Marinette and Adrien go to China
by mommywrites
Summary: Marinette inherited the miracle box and was the next guardian. A temple was restored in Tibet after the defeat of Feast. The temple, its monks and its secrets were in need of protection. Ladybug and Chat Noir have to go to China. Gabriel saw the temple restored on TV and decides to travel there with Nathalie. Angst, fluff and travel fun. (The author has never been to China).
1. Chapter 1 - Go to China

Trip to China

Marinette has inherited the miracle box and was the next guardian. Every evening, she would 'take a few kwamis for a walk' as she called it. She would put on the jewellery, kwamis would appear and then Marinette would spend considerable time giggling at the games they played. She already had amounts of different kinds of food stashed in her room. Each kwami had their favourite and some kinds were difficult to get.

After they ate and played, she would encourage them to tell her stories of their former owners. At first she tried to memorize the stories, but soon it became too much, so she made another magic box to hold a second diary. There she wrote down the notes from the stories kwamis had told her. Tikki and Sass complained at her taking notes at first, but gave up after a while.

However, kwamis were mischievous and when she took them out, one or two would rather continue to have fun of their own around her room and not sit and listen to the stories of old times. They could exchange stories between themselves while inside the miracle box.

One evening, Trixx and Pollen were telling a story or arguing (it was not always clear) and Marinette was busy taking notes. Tikki went down to the desk for cookies and noticed something turquoise sticking from Marinettes diary. She frowned and pounced on Sass.

"She forgot to lock it." Sass offered an excuse.

"You are spying on my chosen." Tikki hissed.

"She is really into this guy that was Aspik? My one time holder?" Sass asked with pure curiosity.

"You should not interfere." Tikki whisper shouted.

"She has all these pictures of him in her room." Sass looked around to stress his words "And that one above her bed even has little hearts on it."

"Do not get into that subject, do you hear me?" Tikki frowned.

"Alright." Sass conceded.

"And do not read her diary again!" Tikki tried to sound threatening.

"Alright." Sass nodded.

The argument between the kwamis on the loft bed intensified and they could hear Marinette tried and failed to calm down the discussion.

"What is this all about?" Sass floated over and asked calmly.

"Everything is going to be alright, let's not wake up Marinette's parents." Tikki chirped in an entirely different manner than she used for Sass just moments before.

Marinette was poking her diary with her pencil feeling a bit absent minded.

"I got lost at the re-creation of the temple or something." Marinette gave a tired look to her kwami. Some evenings were easy, some kwamis would even tell her exactly what she should note. Some evenings were like these. She felt as if she was babysitting and not learning.

"Re-creation of the temple?" Tikki asked incredulously.

"Yes the restoration of the curse." Trixx pounced excitedly.

"There is nothing positive about that." Pollen crossed her tiny arms.

Sass sighed.

"Have you told her the story, or you were just arguing as you usually do?" Sass spoke calmly.

The two kwamis looked at each other.

"She started it!" Trixx pointed her tiny had towards Pollen.

"But you had to get so engaged into it." Pollen put her tiny paws to her hips.

Marinette was becoming more drowsy.

"You are very tired Marinette, perhaps we should do this some other time." Tikki went to her chosen and patted her cheek.

"Actually, how long has it been, a few weeks already?" Sass asked.

"Yes but..." Tikki protested.

"Already? So long? And we are not in a caravan already?" Trixx sounded incredulous.

"They do not use caravans these days" Pollen rolled her eyes.

"Okay, what is it?" Marinette jawed. "Short version, please."

"Master Fu made an error as a child and the temple of the Miraculous in Tibet got burned. But then, you and Chat noir have beaten Feastin and the temple is restored, right?" Sass was calm, short and up to the point.

Marinette nodded.

"There were more miraculous stones in that temple than there are in that box." Sass spoke very slowly waiting for Marinette to comprehend what he wants to say.

"There are also other powers related to the temple." Sass continued and waited for Marinette to nod. She was not making notes this time. "The temple was restored and that was in the news, right, for everyone to see."

"Including Hawk Moth." Marinette whispered.

"Exactly." Sass nodded pointedly.

"And he probably knows about other stones and the temple powers?" Marinette asked hoping beyond hope that the answer is no.

Sass nodded with a sad look in his eyes. Tikki looked worried. Pollen and Trixx nodded rapidly and eagerly.

"And he might be after them?" Marinette was worried.

Sass have half hearted nod.

"But the monks in the temple, they can defend it?" Marinette switched her eyes between all the four kwami.

They all waved their heads.

"They need Ladybug and Chat Noir to defend them from evil." Tikki gave Sass a resigned look and admitted the fact to Marinette.

"So I should go to Tibet?" Marinettes eyes almost popped out from her head.

"You and Chat Noir." Trixx added "And perhaps a few more heroes."

"We expect Hawk Moth would be going there soon, too." Pollen explained "Because he could find the cursed stone."

"He could be after it if he knew about it." Sass spoke calmly. "We should focus on going there. We should not anticipate what would we find there."

Trixx sighed. Pollen crossed her tiny paws again.

"How could I go to China? With Chat Noir? We can use Peagasus and be there in not time." Marinette smiled. "We can investigate and be back in a few hours. That would be perfect. We would leave Paris only for a few hours at a time. We could do it instead of patrols."

She stopped her happy rambling when she saw the four kwamis wave their head.

"You can't just teleport there do the research as a Ladybug and then come back." Sass crossed his arms.

"It would draw the attention of Hawk Moth." Tikki warned.

"You cant find the cursed stone." Trixx waved her head.

"It has to reveal itself to you." Pollen whispered.

"So I have to go to China? But I can't leave Paris!" Marinette whined. "I have to find another Ladybug." she sighed.

"No. Ladybug has to travel to Tibet." Sass was calm and deadly serious. He gave Tikki a look. Her chosen was difficult.

"Who would defend Paris then if I can't teleport there and back?" Marinette asked incredulously.

"Nobody said you cant teleport there nor from there." Trixx raised an eyebrow (or something).

"The cursed stone will not reveal itself to a person while transformed." Pollen nodded wisely.

"But I could teleport, de-transform, find the stone, transform and then return." Marinette whined.

"The cursed stone should never be teleported. That could damage or destroy the Horse miraculous." Sass spoke slowly. "But that is not the issue here. The temple might be in danger from Hawk Moth and Mayura. You have to get there and warn them."

"oh" Marinette was deep in thought.

"The cursed stone should stay where it is." Pollen rolled her eyes at Trixx.

"If I cant teleport there, can I teleport back to Paris in the case of an akuma attack? And then back to Tibet?" Marinette was timid and here eyes watched Sass with more fear.

"Yes" Sass nodded twice.

Marinette sighed.

"I do not see how is that different, but okay." Marinette shrugged.

"It will all become clear in time, Marinette." Tikki chirped happily.

"But how am I to travel to China and Tibet? I am a child. I have parents. I can't travel alone. And, you said that Chat Noir should go too?" Marinette looked at the kwamis full of questions.

"This is why I thought going to the temple could wait." Tikki spoke quietly.

"It can't wait that long." Trixx waved her head.

"She is fourteen. It would take years." Pollen added.

"I will think of something. I will also tell Chat Noir about this." Marinette sighed and took her phone.

"You are communicating with that?" Sass asked.

"Don't ask." Tikki sighed.

"How cool." Trixx came closer.

"You do not transform?" Pollen asked.

"We have agreed recently to communicate through this application, my number is hidden, he can't trace me. And I can't trace him." Marinette typed in the message.

Bug: Need to talk.

"Now, tell me more about that temple." Marinette sighed leaving the phone to the side.

Trixx and Pollen entered the argument about the cursed stone. Tikki giggled to their antics. Sass rolled his eyes.

Marinette's phone lit up with a message.

Cat: now, where?

Bug: can wait till morning.

Cat: before school, Francois Dupont rooftop.

Bug: see you then. Good night.

Cat: Good night.

Sass spied on the text exchange and nodded in approval. When Marinette put the phone away, he silenced the arguing kwamis and started the story in his slow and calm speech.

Marinette fell asleep after a few minutes. The kwami joined her on the pillow.

"She looks so tired." Sass whispered. Tikki silenced Pollen and Trixx.

"She is getting exhausted. And, she is sad about Master Fu. She blames herself." Tikki whispered.

"Well, Wayzz explained to her that it was not her fault, we always cheer her up." Trixx chirped.

"She laughs at our stories." Pollen noted.

"How many kwami she takes for a walk every evening?" Sass asked worriedly.

"Three to four." Tikki answered. "But it is not just that." Tikki sighed.

"Is it about this boy?" Pollen asked floating to the picture of Adrien on the wall.

Tikki nodded.

"I knew it. I saw how she looked at the picture from time to time." Trixx nodded.

"She loves him so much she let him be with another girl because she saw him happy with her. And she is a friend to the other girl." Tikki sighed worried for her chosen.

"Oh no." Trixx whispered.

"So she would never even try to be with him not to ruin the friendship with that girl." Pollen whispered.

"Does the boy really love that other girl?" Sass asked calmly.

"It is more complicated than that. We can't interfere." Tikki warned.

The other three kwami looked at Tikki questioningly.

Tikki sighed "I can't tell you, okay?" she looked at all three kwami.

Trixx and Pollen sighed and looked at each other then back at Tikki.

"If it is complicated, then it is not a no." Trixx whispered happily.

"But it is not a yes either." Pollen whisper shouted.

The two kwami were in an argument bout what Tikki said and what it actually meant.

Sass, on the other hand, kept silent radiating ancient wisdom. But Tikki knew better, Tikki knew that most of his wisdom came from just an hour ago and the diary he read.

"You were not supposed to read her diary, Sass." Tikki warned.

"But I did." Sass crossed his arms.

"That is only for her." Tikki whisper shouted.

"She did not keep it locked." Sass argued.

"She forgot. She is tired." Tikki threw a worried glance towards her chosen, sleeping peacefully.

"She should not do such mistakes." Sass warned.

"We should hep her. She is just a girl with a lot on her mind." Tikki whispered still looking at her sleeping chosen.

"We are helping her." Sass continued. "She is doing a good job as a guardian."

"And she trusts us completely, so she did not lock her diary. We should not abuse her trust, Sass." Tikki scolded quietly.

Sass bowed his head.

"You are right. But, there are things in there, things we should know if we want to help her." Sass whispered.

"She should tell them to you. We should not be talking like this about her. I would be breaching her trust if I did." Tikki scolded gently.

The four kwami finally snuggled on the pillow and fell asleep.


	2. Chapter 2- A chat on a rootop

A chat on a rooftop

That morning, four kwami patted a raven haired girl until she woke up. Tikki and Sass reminded her of her meeting with Chat and she quickly dressed up and grabbed her things. It was Sass who hopped on her bracelet to remind her to take it off.

"You have to take this off." he looked at the girl, her eyelids giving away that she is only half awake.

Marinette stared at the bracelet. "Oh yes." and a pang of emotions ran through her. She almost made an error of carrying the Snake bracelet that Ladybug gave to Adrien once and he would certainly recognize. On top of that she had the Fox pendant around her neck that Alya would recognize and the Bee comb in her hair. Thinking of how would Chloe react the moment she recognized the Bee miraculous in Marinette's hair sent shivers up her spine. She quickly greeted the three kwami, removed the jewels and stored them.

Marinette ran through the bakery grabbing some pastries on the way 45 minutes before school.

"Good morning maman, papa." she greeted on the run.

"I thought you were still sleeping." Sabine looked at her daughter with surprise.

"Have you moved your clock one hour forward for the daylight saving time again?" Tom laughed.

"No, I have this thing in school." She ran out. Technically, she had a meeting on the school rooftop, semantics.

She ran in the nearby alley and transformed. She took the brown paper bag with croissants and swung to the roof. In a few jumps she was on the roof of her school. Chat was already there.

"Good morning, My Lady" Chat bowed, took her hand and kissed her knuckles.

"Good morning Chaton." She returned the greeting and tapped his nose with her index finger. She smiled, but he could see that she was tired.

"Oh, the croissants and pain au chocolate from the Dupain Cheng bakery, how did you know." he smiled widely taking a croissant from the bag Ladybug offered.

"Good morning to you too Chaton." Ladybug smiled.

Chat took a large bite from his croissant and watched Ladybug intently. She nibbled on her own nervously. The last few days she appeared sad and lonely and have even looked for solace in him. He was even hoping she started to develop feelings for him.

"What's wrong Bug?" Chat asked with concern. "I see how taking the duty of the Guardian has taken its toll on you."

Ladybug shook her head. The day she became Guardian, she let Adrien go. There was no way she could ever maintain a relationship, go to school, save the city as Ladybug and be the Guardian of the miracle box. She had to let go of Adrien. He deserved someone who could give him more. Kagami was making him happy.

Ladybug took in a heavy and shaken breath. That was not what she came here to talk about. She wiped a tear from her eye and Chat saw it.

"Remember Feastin?" Ladybug asked.

Chat nodded.

"A temple was restored in Tibet after we defeated Feastin and I used Miraculous Ladybug." Ladybug spoke quickly.

"That temple that was missing for hundred and something years?" Chat asked.

"Yes, that one. It was a temple of the guardians." Ladybug nodded. She sniffed in her sorrow from before and focused on the conversation.

Chat nodded for her to go on.

"Well, there are more miraculous stones there and we have to go to Tibet." Ladybug raised her eyes and looked him straight in the eyes. She was too tired to wrap the story in more sentences. She was not in the mood to go around and around before she finally hit the target.

Chats mouth fell open, but he was smiling.

"They spoke about the temple on television, Chat. The whole world saw it. Including Hawk Moth." Ladybug continued. "He might be going there too, maybe even now as we speak. And the monks there can't protect themselves. They would not know what to expect. We are the only Chat Noir and Ladybug." She started rambling, speaking quickly and waving her hands. "You know I am the guardian now, and the kwami told me we should both go there, to the temple."

Chat grinned. He looked happy. He smiled widely at the thought of going somewhere with his lady. Perhaps they would reveal their identities now. Perhaps this was more important than keeping their identities a secret.

"Chat, I do not know what to do. This will endanger our identities. We should both go. I will have to take the miraculous box and we can use the horse miraculous to teleport back to Paris in the case of an akuma attack, and then teleport back. But, we can't just teleport there and do our thing." Ladybug spoke so quickly Chat barely followed. But he smiled.

"We will go to Tibet together?" he smiled. His mother loved Tibet and always spoke fondly of the place. He always wanted to go there.

"Chat, get serious. How are we going to Tibet?" Ladybug looked at him and he grinned.

"By plane?" he smirked.

"Chat" she clenched her fists "I cant fly to China alone. I am fourteen." She winced, she just gave a detail about her identity she should not have given him. She looked away from Chat.

"You are fourteen?" Chat grinned, his smile could split his head.

"Forget about it." Ladybug turned away.

"You're fourteen." Chat was more subdued.

"Stop it Chat. I lied about my age. All women lie about their age." Ladybug spoke quietly and sniffed. She kept her back to him.

"You're fourteen and you have been defending Paris for more than a year and now you are the Guardian of the miracle box." Chat spoke to himself and put his clawed hand on her shoulder. He slowly turned her around and pulled her into a hug.

"I do not know how to do this Chat." Ladybug cried. "I do not have a plan yet. I just needed to tell you this."

"Thank you for telling me. You always find a solution, Bug." Chat Noir spoke quietly.

"Yes, in a battle. But this is the real world. I need plane tickets. And I need something to tell my parents, probably take one of them with me." Ladybug felt this was also giving away more information about her but far less than the last slip up.

"But, this time, I might help you with that." Chat Noir offered. If there was anything he had, it was money. Or, more precisely, it was his father who had the money. And, his father did not mind if Adrien spent the money as long as the boy left his father alone and obeyed all his overbaring rules.

"You can't buy me plane tickets." Ladybug said incredulously. She had no idea how much money it was but the plane tickets must be something expensive, right?

"I might help, please let me help." Chat Noir grinned. His head was already in the clouds, or even above them, in a passenger jet flying to China.

"Okay." she whispered in his chest.

"Okay, we still have some time. So kwami told you we should both go, but how have you found out about this? Was it an idea from Master Fu? What can you tell me about that temple?" Chat Noir asked excitedly.

"Kwamis told me, not Master Fu, not even his kwami." Ladybug shrugged and started explaining.

"Kwamis? As in plural?" Chat Noir asked.

"Yes, I let them out and learn from them every evening." Ladybug looked at him. "They tell me stories and there is a lot to learn." She looked at him, he was concerned, she thought he was unhappy because she was 'hiding' something from him. "Chaton, I am sharing all the information with you, here."

"Isn't that draining you?" Chat Noir was worried. Plagg told him that wearing more than one miraculous can be draining on the bearer. Chat thought it was just during battle, but perhaps it was valid all the time? He did not think about wearing two miraculous outside the battle.

"I have a lot to learn." Ladybug shrugged. She wanted to return to the subject and away from his worry about her. "Hawk Moth have seen the temple was restored. It was on television. I would not have known it if I have not spoke to the kwamis." Ladybug told him.

"So what else have they taught you." Chat Noir asked a bit harshly. More harshly than he intended. He was merely curious, and one tiny bit jealous. He valued Plagg and his company a lot. He could never imagine his life without the little cat god who kept him company in that large and lonely room in the Agreste mansion. He might like to have a few more kwami for company. Plagg was grumpy and teasing. Tikki, although he met her only briefly during the second Reflekdoll akuma and amok attack, seemed much nicer. Perhaps Plagg would appreciate some company too?

"Much of it is just stories, it is not as if they are giving me lessons. I have to pick out the useful information. Sometimes they just go about and play or bicker and I just spend my evenings getting no useful information at all." Ladybug voiced her frustration quietly.

"Oh, Bug." Chat hugged her once more. He would love to see kwami play and bicker, but he understood Ladybug's frustration. "If I can help you with that, let me know, please?" Chat begged.

"It is my duty." Ladybug replied and clenched her fists. "It was my mistake." she whispered.

"Don't talk like that, Bug. Don't think like that, either, okay." Chat looked into her eyes. Ladybug looked at him back. There was not so much guilt in her look as he expected. There was so much sadness. Sadness about loosing Master Fu? Was she so tied up with the old master? Probably. He missed him too although he did not see him as frequently as Ladybug.

Ladybug was looking at Chat feeling sad. She let go of Adrien and she knew how much it hurt her. She knew Chat liked her, perhaps not as much as she liked Adrien. He flirted with her as Marinette too and probably flirted with many girls in his civilian life. But the thought that he might have suffered this much, or even a tiny bit of this much, because of her, because he liked her and she loved Adrien. That thought was making her sad even more. She could not tell him.

"It is time for us to go." Ladybug whispered.

They separated, said their greetings and went their separate ways.

Chat Noir went straight into school, through a toilet window and de-transformed into Adrien.

"Tikki is having fun with all the other kwami while all I have is you." Plagg teased.

"But I have Camembert." Adrien winked and produced a cheese triangle.

"Well, you have your good sides too." Plagg wiggled his tail in anticipation, but Adrien kept holding the cheese triangle.

"What do you say?" Adrien wiggled the cheese triangle.

"I'm hungry?" Plagg tried.

"Nah Nah" Adrien wiggled the cheese some more.

"Cheese." Plagg whined.

"What is the magic word?" Adrien smirked.

"I am the god of destruction and your fingers are on my food." Plagg groaned.

"Those are many words, but I feel no magic." Adrien wiggled his eyebrows.

"Would you really like to taste some of my magic?" Plagg put his paws on his hips.

Adrien heard someone entered the toilet. He quickly threw the cheese triangle into the air and Plagg swallowed it whole. Adrien caught Plagg and hid him in his shirt, then he pressed the water tap and got out of the stall where he was hiding.

"Hey Dude." Nino greeted.

"Hey Nino" Adrien greeted washing his hands.

"Did not see you come in to school." Nino noted.

"I was here early this morning. I wanted to check something in the library before our history lesson." Adrien shrugged with his best model smile, dried his hands and went to the locker room.


	3. Chapter 3 - The history book

The History Book

Ladybug swung her yo-yo in the opposite direction from the one Chat took. She jumped from the rooftop and de-transformed in an alley close to school. She knew the place well and could not remember the number of times she used it when she rushed to school after an akuma attack. There were no windows in the ground floor and there were several dumpsters to hide behind.

Marinette caught Tikki in her hands after she de-transformed and offered her a pink macaron. The little red goddess with three black spots took the macaron looking at the girl gratefully and nibbled on it thoughtfully. Marinette started running towards school instantly.

"Going to China was a bad idea. I already told Chat Noir too many details." Marinette whispered to Tikki.

"Everything will be okay, Marinette." Tikki patted her chosen on her cheek and floated into her purse with the macaron in her little paws.

"I have no idea how to pull this through and I have revealed too much about myself." Marinette repeated in frustration.

"Don't worry, Marinette, he might have guessed what you told him already." Tikki tried to put the girl at ease.

"But now I have confirmed his guess." the girl groaned. Tikki blinked her blue eyes at the girl from her purse holding the macaron in her tiny paws.

"There is no use to be so concerned about it now. It is done." Tikki chirped. She wanted Marinette to focus on the problem to solve, not on the errors she did. Besides, Tikki knew who Chat Noir was and Ladybug telling him her age and the fact she had parents did not reveal too much that he would not find out or conclude on his own during the travel anyway.

"I was talking too much. I can't crumble like that." Marinette waved her head as she ran towards school and looked at Tikki in her purse.

"That is why you have a partner." Tikki peeked from her purse.

"But, we have to keep our identities a secret." Marinette whispered.

"You will be late for school, Marinette." Tikki got deeper into her purse and Marinette ran faster up the stairs.

"Yes, school." Marinette gasped. One more duty for her. Well, that was a normal duty, all the kids went to school, you have to go to school and learn and … her string of thoughts was disturbed again by the tiny voice from her purse.

"Don't forget your history book." Tikki chirped from her purse. Right, she has to pick up the history book from her locker for the first class. She took a sudden turn towards the locker room and ran there. The hallways were mostly empty of students as the first class of the day was about to start in a few minutes and everyone was in their classrooms chatting with their classmates.

Marinette burst into the locker room. She quickly ran over to her locker. Her feet operated on muscle memory as her head was too full with information on kwami and too lacking on information on travel arrangements that she forgot to use her head to process what was going on just in front of her.

And, of all people, she bumped into Adrien.

Truth to be told, he was leaning on her locker as if he was waiting for her (he was).

"Good morning Marinette" he wrapped his arm around her waist when she bumped into him but released her the moment she stood firmly on her own two feet again. He smirked. He felt Plagg snickered in his pocket and kept looking at the girl in front of him waiting for her reaction. And she never disappointed him.

"Adrien! You too good, morning." Marinette flailed her hands. Why did she run into him? Why him of all people? Why did he have that smirk on his face. Why he watched her so intently with those warm green eyes? Why was she lost in his eyes again? She let go of him. It hurt so much, and still, the moment she bumped into him, all the feelings were back. The butterflies in her belly, the warmth in her cheeks, the weakness in her knees. And why was she waving her hands so much? She finally used her hands to cover the blush in her face with the palms of her hands.

He liked it when she got flustered. It was funny. He gave her a cheeky grin. He felt so warm inside when she was near him. He wanted to wrap his arms around her again, but resisted the pull of his feelings and settled to just stare at her. He wanted to spend more time with her and get her to feel more comfortable around him, but he enjoyed her funny reactions when he pulled a prank on her just like he did this morning. And it was not hard to do, all he did was to lean onto her locker and wait for her.

"I mean, good morning to you too, Adrien." she clenched her fists on her face while she spoke. Success. She managed to wish him good morning. Her eyes open wide and a large smile forms on her face. The blush is still there and she looks happy. She is looking at him like she just won a match of video game (except she is not dancing). Adrien is happy for her.

"How are you this morning?" Adrien asked stepping away from her locker so she could open it. She looked tired. She has looked tired for several days now, come to think of it she looked tired ever since they escaped the wedding anniversary of Chloe's parents. Marinette was there helping her parents who were doing the catering. Were her parents mad about her escape since she avoided her duties. He knew his father would be mad.

"um, okay." Marinette fiddled with the lock on the door to her locker. Her hands were trembling as she tried to concentrate on the lock in front of her. For the first ten seconds she was trying to remember what her code was. She kept thinking of the boy standing beside her. He wrapped his arms around her when she bumped into him. Does that count as a hug? And now he stood beside her and watched her every move.

Adrien audibly sighed as he stood on her side and watched her. He noticed her hands were trembling. She was hunched over the lock and she was fiddling with it as if she did not know what to do with it.

"I mean great, I'm great." Marinette corrected herself, squared her shoulders and jerked her head up but her voice was giving her away. She felt Tikki pat her thigh through her purse so she put her hand over the purse and stroked it lightly.

"Mhm" Adrien leaned onto the locker next to hers. Adrien saw her move and concluded she was nervous about something. Her eyes looked tired and the circles around her eyes revealed she did not sleep much in the last week or so. Her eyes were slightly red, she might have been crying.

Marinette fiddled with her lock but failed to open it. She let her hands fall as she took in a deep breath.

"Marinette" he whispered and it sent shivers down her spine, pleasant shivers that made her knees unstable and turned her brain into jelly. He leaned into her, smelled her hair and felt the smell of bakery. His stomach grumbled audibly in a silent locker room.

"You almost got akumatized last week." he whispered into her ear and put his hand on her shoulder. His breath touched her ear and her hair drifted in the breeze and tingled his nose. She took one deep breath, then another one. She finally felt ready to speak, at least when she was not looking at him.

"That is okay, I can resist akumatization. It was not the first time. Don't worry." Marinette whispered while looking at her lock.

"I know, you told me." Adrien spoke quietly. He remembered when she admitted that a violet butterfly went after her after being cornered in the bathroom. Just the memory of her story sent shivers down his spine. He made it his mission to keep an eye on her. He really did not want to fight akumatized Marinette.

Marinette nodded. She was glad he was there and her lips formed a small smile. Adrien saw it and felt a small victory. It was working.

"Let me help you." Adrien patted her shoulder. He decided to be there for her, to be her friend, to take her mind of things that were bothering her, from things that were stealing her sleep, from things that made her cry. He wanted to ask what it was, but at the same time he did not want to pry.

Marinette whispered her code and Adrien opened the locker without looking inside. He turned away while she took out her history book. She sighed in relief when she saw that the history book was on top of the other books. She was sure that if she was to take it from some place lower in the pile, all of it would end up on the floor. She closed the door of her locker and locked it.

Adrien turned back towards her.

"Hey, Marinette." he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. That put back colour in her cheeks, a bit too much of it, maybe, but he liked it when she blushed. And her eyes were instantly more alive.

"Yes?" she raised her face towards him.

"Have you ever been to China?" Adrien asked without any warning.

Marinettes history book dropped from her hands straight on Adrien's foot.

He winced in pain.

"Um sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry Adrien." Marinette crouched and put her hand gently on his foot.

"Are you injured? Should I take to the nurse? Do you need to see a doctor?" Marinette panicked and spoke quickly.

Adrien crouched and took her book in his hands. They were extremely close as she kept her hand on his orange sneakers.

"I am okay, Marinette." he smiled so close to her face that she got lost. She stared in his warm green smiling eyes.

"Come on, let's go to the class." Adrien took her hand from his shoe and got up pulling her up with him.

They walked side by side, but he could not help but notice her lost expression, her tired eyes, the absence of her bubbly energy.

Her mind wandered back to the problem she was facing. How is she going to travel to China, and Tibet, and finally find the temple?

"So." Adrien really wanted to repeat the question so he could hear the answer, but without repeating what just happened so he took the history book from her hands. "Have you ever been to China?"

"Um, no, why?" Marinette stared at him.

"Well, because of your maman and your uncle, I thought, maybe you visited your family there." Adrien shrugged. He was not sure why he asked her that, it was the first thing that dropped on his mind. Probably because Ladybug told him less then fifteen minutes ago that they were about to go to China.

"Maman went once and uncle came for a visit." Marinette shrugged. She felt at a loss. She had relatives in China, but had never been there and could not speak Chinese.

"Have you ever been there?" she asked back, perhaps he wanted to talk about that.

"No" Adrien waved his head. "But, my parents have been and my mother always spoke fondly of China and Tibet. I hope I will go there some day." Yeah, how about next week?

At that point they entered the classroom and Chloe threw herself on Adrien. His eyes followed Marinette as she quietly greeted her classmates and went to her seat. He tried to push Chloe away not even paying any attention to what she shrieked straight into his ear.

What was making Marinette so tired? Why she worried so much?

The teacher started by taking attendance and soon they were immersed deep in the ancient history.

Ancient Chinese history.


	4. Chapter 4 - Lets play a game

Lets play a game

After the class, Adrien turned to Marinette and asked about travelling to China again. But this time the whole class got involved. While Chloe spat her insults, and Lila sweet talked the insults of her own, Marinette saw the opportunity in not being the centre of attention and walked away. She asked to 'borrow' the attention and services of Markov. Max borrowed his robot gladly on the condition that he could also observe. She asked about how much would a travel to China cost and Markov quickly sipped the average prices from the tourist agencies. Adrien sneaked up to them as he was interested in the same information.

Adrien noticed how Marinette's eyes went wide at the numbers. He had no idea if that was cheap or expensive. On the other hand, he was sure he had sufficient means to cover the costs for him and his lady. He felt slightly guilty for being a rich boy.

But then Markov dug out the information available on the internet some more and reached a solution in purchasing the plane tickets and organizing the rest of the stay on your own. That seemed like a good idea to Marinette. Mostly because Markov said it was more affordable. Marinette asked if the robot could find some flights but Markov was already searching. The little robot took the task with much enthusiasm. Max beamed at his little robot with pride.

Soon, Markov recommended several return flight options for less than 450 EUR per person and Marinette perked up. If she used all her savings, she could buy two plane tickets, for her and her mother. She would have to produce an excuse why she suddenly wants to go to China, but she was already good at making excuses of all sorts, mostly related why she was late or not where she was expected. Being a Ladybug required her to develop all sorts of skills. She just never expected that inventing believable half lies and excuses would be so demanding part of being a superhero.

But then Markov rotated his blade much faster and bounced up and down in excitement. The little robot found there was a prize draw game on the internet. Max grinned with pride in his little robot, he knew the little guy could do it. Markov quickly explained the rules of the prize game and Marinette nodded eagerly as she was listening. Max stood straight and tall as if he grew for a few centimetres. The little robot was becoming very excited about being able to help and appreciated and sent a link to her mobile phone. Marinette praised Markov for all his help and both Markov and Max were feeling over the moon because of the praise. She opened her phone and confirmed that she got the link. She held the phone to her chest and expressed her gratitude once more. Adrien wandered how her attitude changed upon receiving this information. Marinette finally finished her praise of the little robot and turned around to examine the link and the flights.

Moments later, Adrien sneaked up towards Markov, careful not to be noticed by both Marinette and Max. Adrien asked the little robot to send him the flight information and the link with prizes, not for himself, he said, but for his friend. Markov was not asking questions except if he wanted exactly the same flight information and the prize game and Adrien nodded. He wanted Marinette to win, he really wanted all the good luck on her side, but his Lady needed it too. He just hoped they were giving away more than one prize. He received the message with the links to the prize game and another message with the flight information, prices and carriers. He thanked Markov and made a mental mark to ask Max what kind of batteries would the little guy (Markov, not Max) prefer. Adrien copied the link for the prize game and sent it to Ladybug through the messenger application they were using.

"All right class." Ms Bustier clapped her hands. "We will continue on our previous lesson by covering ancient Chinese texts. The first known texts are describing religious beliefs, ancient rites, social forms, administrative and legal procedures and court ceremonies." the teacher recited. Two students were all eyes and ears.

Marinette bolted out from her seat the moment the bell rang for the lunch break only to find Adrien was one step in front of her. Both were followed out of the classroom by confused eyes of Alya and Nino. The couple decided against following their friends. They planned to spend the lunch break together while their friends obviously went home for the lunch break, although they were never in a hurry to do so. Adrien always lingered in school, postponing the inevitable separation from his friends for a lonely lunch at home. And Marinette lingered just because Adrien was there.

But, today, Marinette was a woman (well girl actually) on a mission. She was determined to win the prize game and get the plane tickets for China. She ran as quickly as her feet would carry her. She was surprised that Adrien was in a hurry too.

"Hey Marinette." he greeted her as she caught up with him on the school stairs. "Are you excited about that prize game?"

"Yes." she nodded.

"Well, if you will need any help, don't hesitate to contact me." Adrien smiled widely.

"You in a hurry?" Marinette was confused and swallowed half of her question, if he was in a hurry, he should be too busy with something during the lunch break to have time to help her.

"Um, yes, I have this thing, yes." Adrien waved and jumped into his car.

Marinette waved back, tripped and almost fell to her face, but managed to catch balance and then she continued to run.

"Tikki, if only I could win us the plane tickets, then I could persuade maman to go to China." Marinette sighed.

"You will need some luck with that." Tikki chirped from her purse.

"Chat sent me the link too." the girl breathed.

"And Chat Noir really helped too, Marinette." Tikki chirped.

"Yes he did." Marinette sighed, to her, it was obvious that a simple internet search could lead anyone to the same information. "We have to win this, Tikki."

She opened the web page in her browser and read the rules. The prize was a coupon of 1000 EUR to be spent on plane tickets for return flights to the Far East. One had to pick a country and answer a number of questions related to the destination. And the condition was that the person has never visited the country. There were twelve prizes to be awarded.

"Maman, would you like to travel to China for the holidays?" Marinette asked. School holidays would start in less than a week and her parents were always discussing of travelling, but never actually going somewhere for a holiday. These particular holidays were two weeks long and she could really make this work.

"Why? How? Where did this came from?" her mother asked.

"Well, Markov, the robot Max built, he found that I can get us these tickets from Air France for the direct flight to China." Marinette pointed to the prices. "And there is this prize game that we could play and win the amount."

"I have been to China before, dear." Sabine said.

"Yes, but I have not." Marinette smiled.

"Okay dear, but it is your competition and it is you who have to answer all the questions." Sabine smiled and went to the bakery.

Marinette smiled and sat in front of the computer. Tikki hovered next to her and they answered all the introductory questions quickly.

"Why do you want to visit China?" Marinette sighed reading the question. "Well, I have a family there and I have never been there." she shrugged and looked at Tikki. Then came other questions and she checked all her answers with Tikki.

"I want to learn the culture of my family and see how they live."

"I did not visit China before because my family always talks about going but never actually go?" Marinette shrugged. "Let's be honest." she winked at Tikki "They have to leave the family business to go on a holiday. And this time, if I win this reward they might actually go on a holiday." Marinette looked at her answers and seemed happy.

"Oops, time for school." Marinette submitted all her answers. Checked if everything went okay, checked for the confirmation message that her submission was successful and then ran to the school.

Adrien sat at his desk typing the answers. Plagg watched the boy from his place on the desk having just finished his portion of Camembert.

"Why are you filling out these questions kid?" Plagg asked.

"To win the award and fly to China?" Adrien smiled.

"But you have the money, why would you want to win a game?" Plagg asked incredulously.

"I could give the reward to Ladybug." Adrien smiled.

"But you sent her the link, she can play it herself." Plagg complained.

"If she wins the reward herself, I can use this one." Adrien smiled.

"What do you think your father will say once he hears about your plans to go to China for the school holidays?" Plagg raised his eyebrows (or whatever equivalent that would be on his face).

Adrien sunk. He looked at the screen. The whole morning, ever since he heard the news from Ladybug, he never stopped to consider that obstacle. It did not occur to him. He could not believe that he completely forgot about his father. Maybe there was a way to persuade his father. His bodyguard would go with him. It would serve as a good practice in Chinese. What else could he think of?

"Well I am finished with this form I might as well submit it." Adrien shrugged and clicked the necessary buttons.

Nathalie was at the door and Adrien got up and went out of the mansion with her. On the way she informed him on his schedule and plans.

"As for the school holidays. Your father and me are going on a business trip to China and you are to follow your curriculum strictly. You are not allowed to meet anyone outside your schedule unless specifically allowed nor to leave the house without permission." Nathalie recited her lines without stopping. She knew very well that what she just described was an open type prison for a two weeks. At least in prison, there are other prisoners. Adrien would be alone.

Adrien gaped.

"Um, Nathalie, could I go with you?" Adrien was looking at her, his best model smile. Nathalie turned at the question. She was expecting some begging to visit his friends or go somewhere, but not this."I have been studying Chinese for years and I want to practice there. I want to visit the country. My bodyguard would be with me at all times. I would not be in the way." Adrien begged.

"I will ask your father to consider it." Nathalie finally answered. Adrien grinned. Maybe, just maybe, he will not have to run away from his father and the Agreste mansion.

Adrien ran up the stairs and into the school running into Marinette. She was out of breath but smiling. She seemed better than she was in the morning.

"Feeling better?" Adrien asked.

"Yes, thank you Adrien. I filled in that online competition to win the prize for the plane tickets. Perhaps I could spend my school holidays in China this time." she smiled. "I did it on my own, maman refused to help me, she said she has already been to China and that I should to it on my own."

"I am sure you did amazing, Marinette." Adrien smiled.

Marinette blushed and smiled widely.

They reached the classroom and took their seats and Ms Mendeleev entered a moment after them.

Marinette sat and took her phone out. She still had to message Chat.

Bug: thank you Chaton. The form is filled in and submitted. Keep your claws crossed.

She read, clicked on send and put away her phone.

She frowned when she saw Adrien checking his phone during Ms Mendeleev explaining an experiment. He usually did it when Nathalie sent him some urgent request and then he escaped school to some emergency obligation his father put him up to. But the boy checked his phone, smiled, typed something quick back and put away his phone. She felt her phone vibrate shortly after but decided to ignore it. It was chemistry, after all.


	5. Chapter 5 - Planning in an overdrive

Planning in an overdrive

They say planning a travel is half the fun of travelling. ;)

It was past bedtime, but Adrien was still at his computer desk learning what he could.

Plan A was that he goes to China with his father and Nathalie and bodyguard.

Adrien was making a plan B.

He did his research on foreign travel and assembled a checklist.

He had his passport in his room, it was not in the safe in his fathers office. Check!

He needed a visa for China, but as a famous supermodel working for a family brand, he could easily get one at a local embassy once he had the return tickets. Check!

He was a minor. That was a major issue. Could he possibly persuade his bodyguard to travel with him to Tibet? Some other adult would need a signed confirmation from his father and his bodyguard already had one.

Money? I mean really? Check!

Language? A huge grin on his face. Check!

Accommodation? Check! Little surfing offered plenty of websites where you could book something from a few euros per night to … sky is the limit. Although his father would probably find something more expensive. No, he was wrong. His father would make Nathalie find something more expensive.

Clothes? Okay, where did this come from, of course he had clothes. Check!

(Check the weather and climate? It has never occurred to him that Tibet might require something other than designer clothes.)

With a self satisfied smirk he sent his checklist to Ladybug through the messenger app.

He leaned back in his computer seat and raised his arms up and folded them so his palms were on the back of his neck. He rolled the chair left and right watching Plagg snore on his desk next to an empty plate. Then he checked the time. It was late, but Adrien was too excited for sleep. He went to the Chinese web pages on Tibet and read. Then he opened a web page listing first hand experiences of foreign travellers to Tibet.

Marinette, on the other hand, had different issues.

Plan A was to win the prize and buy the plane tickets.

Plan B was to buy the plane tickets and make her parents think she won them as a prize.

Summing up all her finances and savings, she could collect sufficient sum for the plane tickets and maybe the train tickets to Tibet. And she would have to dig into the sum she got for designing the Jagged Stone album.

Therefore, the only solution was to sell something she already had prepared and perhaps take few quick commissions that she could do before the holidays. She created a few ads and looked at possible customers sending an offer or two.

Soon, she got a really long message from Chat with his checklist for the travel to China.

"So, he is also a minor." Marinette sighed. She was a bit disturbed by the sharing of personal information. She replied with thumbs up and good wishes and he sent a picture of fingers crossed.

Marinette sighed. It was getting late. It was time to take the kwami for a walk. She opened the miracle box and took the miraculous of the Mouse, the Turtle and the Horse. She was tempted to take the Monkey too, but Tikki waved her head.

"We are both too tired for Xuppu." Tikki sighed.

Marinette put on the jewels and the glasses, Mullo greeted with nuzzling her cheek, Wayzz bumped her index finger and Kaalki simply greeted.

Kaalki and Mullo chased each other around her room and nibbled on their food from time to time. Wayzz was far more used to being in the world of humans.

Marinette asked Wayzz on what Master Fu ever said about the temple and what the little magic turtle god could remember himself and took notes carefully. Wayzz was way more cooperative than most of the other kwami, he spent more than a hundred years with Master Fu.

"You want to know about the temple, Guardian?" Mullo nuzzled Marinette's cheek. "I know many ways and cracks there."

"That will be very useful once we get there, thank you Mullo." Marinette nodded and smiled.

"I can get you there I no time." Kaalki bounced on her lap.

Marinette smiled gratefully, she wandered why she should not teleport there right then, but then she saw Tikki waving her head.

"Thank you, Kaalki, but that might not be the best idea right now." Marinette smiled. She did not understand enough to have a complete picture and would not risk unknown consequences. It was Chat Noir who was taking great risks without considering the consequences.

"But, I have not been there for such a long time." Kaalki bounced and pleaded. The little kwami was more than eager to help.

"You know you should not, Kaalki." Tikki jumped into the conversation.

"We all want to visit the temple." Mullo added shyly. "Will you take us with you?"

"Of course." Marinette smiled. "But we are going more conventional way."

"It must be Trixx. She would prefer to use horses or camels and then create mirages all the way." Kaalki grumbled.

"It is not just that." Wayzz sighed. "You were not supposed to go there this young." the green turtle looked at the girl.

"What is waiting for me there?" Marinette asked. "Yesterday, Pollen and Trixx were talking about the cursed stone." She was not sure if she should ask about the subject.

"Ah, I would expect them to. It is an old legend. That stone is harmless." Kaalki waved his hand (or front leg, whatever).

"It is not harmless!" the three kwami replied in unison.

"It is an old folk tale. There used be a stone in a village." Kaalki started his story dramatically floating around and stressing each word carefully. The other three kwami sat down and sighed in unison. "Villagers who believed to be cursed could go to the stone and release the curse to the stone. But, in return, they had to pick up the curse that was left to the stone by the previous visitor."

Marinette rested her head in the palm of her hand while her elbow rested on her knee. She tapped her fingers on her face deep in thought.

"How is that useful? They thought they were cursed before they came to the stone and then they left being sure they were cursed with something else?" Marinette shrugged as she raised her hands in defeat.

"Exactly!" the three kwami acted as a choir.

"She should focus on defending the temple and its monks, not on finding that stone." Tikki scolded Kaalki gently.

"She should know about it!" the other three kwami replied to Tikki.

"Okay?" Marinette looked at the four kwami. "Are you going to tell me?"

"There was a magical villain." Mullo started talking checking the other three kwami who nodded in approval. "And they took the stone from the village and put it into the temple." The other three kwami nodded in approval. "They said a curse that would affect only those who are transformed." The other three kwami nodded again.

Marinette sighed and listened intently, but there was silence.

"Okay?" she tapped her face with her fingers. "There is more."

"Nobody knows which stone it is." Tikki chirped.

"You should not enter the temple while transformed." Mullo shrugged.

"But you just said you knew a lot of passages?" Marinette was confused.

"Yes." Mullo lowered her head. "I know many paths to the temple and many ways inside. And I still remember all the different passages in the temple and have memories of my chosen wandering the temple from before the cursed stone was brought there."

"What was the curse?" Marinette asked curiously.

"Nobody knows." Wayzz finally spoke. "Nobody heard it just as nobody knew which stone it was."

"The point is that you should go to the temple and enter it as Marinette." Tikki spoke, while Wayzz and Mullo nodded in unison.

"I still think it is rubbish and she could teleport there and de-transform as soon as she arrives." Kaalki crossed his arms (front legs?).

"There are other miraculous stones in the temple. They are not as magical as those in the miraculous box. The monks in the temple make sure those are guarded and safe." Wayzz was anxious to change the subject.

"What are those stones used for?" Marinette asked pulling out her notebook.

"There is a stone can help you make you healthy." Mullo spoke eagerly.

"Or sick." Wayzz added nodding his head.

"Another stone can help you make people happy." Mullo bounced on her knee.

"Or sad." Wayzz sighed.

Kaalki was a bit disappointed since they did not teleport to Tibet that night. Patience was not one of his virtues. He had power of teleportation, how could he possibly be patient.

Marinette listened carefully and continued to take notes until she fell asleep on her bed with the notebook in her hands. Tikki and Mullo took the notebook and stored it in her special locked box.

"We do not much about the cursed stone." Mullo sighed quietly.

"But we have to explain to her that she and Chat Noir have to travel to the temple as civilians." Wayzz whispered.

"They should not transform on the was because they would draw attention of Hawk Moth to the temple. News travel really quickly these days." Tikki chirped.

"I can go faster." Kaalki muttered more to himself, but the other three kwami gave him a look.

The kwami arranged themselves on a pillow around Marinette's head and slept.

The next morning, Adrien was taken by Nathalie to his fathers office before breakfast without any explanation.

Adrien kept his fingers crossed and hoped for the best.

It was not what he got.

His father made him sit and towered above him. The answer was no. Without any explanation. He just wanted to say it into Adrien's face and dismiss him.

"But father, why do I take all these Chinese lessons if I never practice it for real." Adrien argued.

"I have ensured you only the best teachers, Adrien." His father was relentless. How could Adrien even dare to ask to travel with him to China? It was a nuisance. He was going to the temple in Tibet with Nathalie and he really did not need Adrien in his way.

"But father, I want to be able to use the language in the native country in its natural environment." Adrien was looking for a straw to hold on to. But he made a crucial error, in order to speak with people you should be spending time with them, and here, Adrien wanted to spend time with complete strangers, not background checked and verified by his father company employees nor approved by his father himself.

"Adrien, you have not been brought up to commit such atrocities." And with those words, Gabriel dismissed his son.

So much for the plan A.

Plan B.

Adrien entered the car. He looked at his driver in the rear view mirror and sighed.

"Have you ever been to China?" Adrien asked his driver.

His driver waved his head.

"Would you like to go to China?" Adrien asked again.

His driver shrugged.

"I would really like to go to China. Would you like to go with me? All expenses covered?" Adrien pleaded.

His driver gave him one long look in the rear view mirror and then one firm nod.

Adrien smiled like the sun in the sky. He lit up the car and his driver twinkled his lips into a small smile. Well there was one more detail. His father was never supposed to know. He will deal with that part of the information later. Or, maybe now?

"Ahem." Adrien braced himself. "My father might object me travelling to China with him, but I want to go. Do you think he would mind much if we go anyway?" Adrien tested the territory.

His driver grunted and then nodded.

Yes, of course his father would mind.

"But what if we go and he never finds out. I could do it you know?" Adrien clenched his fists in suspense.

His driver shrugged and pointed his index finger to his head. Then he pointed his index finger outside. They were already in front of school.

Adrien put his index finger over his mouth.

His driver nodded.

"Thank you and have a nice day." Adrien greeted, took his school bag and got out from the car.

Marinette had different plan B.

Marinette appeared in the bakery kitchen at 5:45 AM. The original plan was to be there at 5 sharp, but well, that was Marinette. She helped her parents with everything they asked. It was a busy day with lot of orders and she knew her parents appreciated the help.

"It was really nice of you to get up so early and help out. I do not know if we would make all the orders in time before the morning rush hour." Sabine praised her daughter.

"Really, darling, you were a great help. Once the shop is open, your mother will be able to handle the customers only and not jump into the bakery to help out." Her father patted her hair, leaving some flour in her hair.

Marinette beamed at her parents while her father washed his hands to start the next assignment on his list.

"Maman, I would really like to travel to China for these holidays. What do you think if I purchased us the plane tickets, could I get some of the savings money for the train tickets to Lhasa?" Marinette dropped between putting two trays of cookies in the oven.

"Tell you what" her father turned to her wiping his hands "If you get that prize, all three of us are going. Your mother and me will hire temporary replacements and bakery is always far less busy during the holidays." Tom winked at Sabine. Sabine nodded.

"That is great papa, but what if I do not win?" Marinette was concerned.

"Well I guess you'll need a bit of luck, won't you?" her father winked.


	6. Chapter 6 - And the winner is

And the winner is

The winners of the competition will be notified at noon. They will receive a discount coupon that they could use while purchasing their plane tickets.

The morning classes were finishing at noon.

Two students in Miss Bustier class were hyper aware of every second that passed for the last five minutes.

The bell rang.

Nothing.

The same two students reached for their phones put them in front of them and sat motionless each staring at their phone.

The rest of the class got up, chatted, packed their things.

Kim poked Alix, she blew a raspberry. Then she teased him, he chased her out of the classroom.

Ivan and Mylenne already left, holding hands.

Juleka and Rose followed after them through the classroom door chatting.

Max was discussing travel and tourism statistics with Markov floating nearby. Markov was particularly concerned about the carbon dioxide releases coming from the airplane traffic.

Nathaniel studied his last drawing, he decided he was satisfied, he got up and left.

Chloe glanced towards Adrien (who was staring at his phone) and stomped out dragging Sabrina in tow.

Alya met her eyes with Nino's and motioned with her head towards Marinette and Adrien.

Nino shrugged.

Alya and Nino packed their things and waited.

"Girl?" Alya called.

No response.

"Hey dude, what's up?" Nino shifted in his seat and touched his hat.

The rest of the class already left.

Alya was getting ready to pounce on Marinette.

Adrien was typing something on the phone.

Cat: any luck?

Nothing.

Marinette sat and bounced her feet off the floor while looking at her screen. In order to keep herself sane (and obviously fail) she was considering her plan B in her head. She already sold two pieces she placed for sale and two more received slightly lower offers than she hoped for so she did not seal the deal yet. She took one commission and was hoping for one more. That would cover the basics, the cheapest flight tickets and train tickets. She is getting them today. Somehow. Perhaps she could tell her parents that she won the prize? Uh, another lie.

Adrien's heart sunk a little. He had money, but he was worried to use it because he knew he was supervised. Purchasing two plane tickets using his credit card might not go under the radar. It was more complicated to get them separately because he was a minor. However, purchasing two plane tickets and drawing the same amount of cash to give to his lady for the same purpose would definitely not go under the radar. He was not really counting on this prize, that was for his lady. She needed it more than him.

Marinette wandered if Chat got his prize. She took the phone and typed her message.

Bug: no code for me, how about you?

There was no response.

Alya gave up on pouncing when she saw Marinette typing on the phone.

The room was silent and the tension was palpable.

Alya took out her phone to check her messages or do something, anything to distract herself.

"How are you able to send messages? I have no signal" Alya practically screamed and sliced the silence like a knife.

"Dude" Nino complained and put his hands over his headphones.

Adrien and Marinette looked at Alya with their eyes opened wide. Their brains processed the information they got and its meaning really slowly.

"No signal? Do you understand? There is no signal?" Alya screamed.

The two of them looked at their phones in sync and then raised their heads back to Alya.

"No signal." Adrien repeated.

"Means no messages." Marinette sighed.

This is why they got no message from the prize draw. And this is why there was no reply from the messenger app.

"Dude, we better go before she turns into Lady Wi-Fi again." Nino told the two staring teens.

The prospect of having to fight an akuma at this moment was treacherous.

The prospect of fighting a really difficult akuma was worse.

They really did not want to deal with akumatized Alya right now.

They got up and walked out from the class like zombies.

"What is it with you two anyway?" Alya demanded.

Marinette gave an empty stare to Alya and looked around then back at Alya. She took a long breath. Her eyes suddenly became focused and she perked up.

"I, um, entered this prize game to win the money for the plane tickets." Marinette said. "I wanted to go and visit China over the school holidays." She smiled shyly and shrugged. "The condition was that the participant never travelled to China. There were many questions to answer. Maman made me answer them all by myself. Papa said this morning that if I get the prize, we will all go." The girl smiled nervously.

"Aaw Marinette." Alya cooed. "I am so happy for you. You will finally go to that family vacation your folks talk about all the time but never go to."

"And you dude?" Nino bumped Adrien in the shoulder.

"Well, me too." There was no point in hiding it. He would just give the code to his lady and purchase the tickets himself.

"Dude? What?" Nino and Alya said incredulously. How on Earth was this rich kid entering a prize game to buy himself something? Anything?

Marinette looked at Adrien with her eyes wide open. She produced no reaction. She probably heard it wrong. She was slightly nervous right then and maybe she heard something that Adrien did not actually say?

Adrien stood there, smiling his awkward nervous smile that still looked good enough for the magazine cover and rubbed the back of his neck. How was he going to explain it? Well the audience was waiting.

"Well, I would need your help with that." Alya and Nino looked at each other for a second. Picture of utter confusion. Adrien knew he had to hurry with the explanation before Alya pounces on him or explodes or whatever. He could see something coming. "You see, my father is going to China actually, but wants me to stay locked up in the house for the holidays, so I sort of persuaded my bodyguard to go with me and I can't really buy two plane tickets with my credit card and hope my father would not notice. It is not the sum, it is the purpose, someone might notice." Adrien rambled and then trailed off.

"What? Locked up? For two weeks?" Nino gaped at his friend. He was used to his friend not being allowed to go out of the Agreste mansion nor receive friends there, but to be practically locked up alone in an empty house?

"Tell us what we need to do." Alya crossed her arms. Mission rescue Adrien from the house arrest has a go.

Marinette blushed like crazy. Was she about to fly to China with Adrien? Forget about the temple, Chat Noir, Master Fu, kwami and some obnoxious cursed stone. Was Adrien going to China as well?

"Well, first of all, they will not check up on me that often. To make it believable I will pretend to answer calls from home. I can deal with that." Adrien was not so sure the latter was accomplished but he was working on it.

"But, if I do not get this prize, could one of you purchase the tickets with your credit card and I give you the cash?" Adrien was ready to show that he already had the amount having accumulated cash over some time just in case.

Alya and Nino looked at each other and shrugged.

"I have a limit on my card." Alya tried to remember how much it was but could not.

"I know my credit card limit is lower than that." Nino adjusted his hat.

"Um, I can ask my maman to help you with that." Marinette was blushing and staring at the stairs they were standing on. She was so determined, her hands formed fists, her shoulders squared and her eyes proudly looking at a pair of orange sneakers.

"That's my girl." Alya wrapped an arm around Marinette and pulled her into a side hug. Adrien grinned. That is what friends are doing.

"Thank you Marinette." Adrien smiled at her gently.

Marinette raised her eyes and saw his warm green eyes looking back at her. Then she reminded herself to inhale. Then she reminded herself to exhale. This was going great. She was not screaming.

Then they discussed further details of the scheme.

Suddenly, the phones started beeping like crazy.

"The network is back up again." Alya grabbed her phone. She was the first one to notice.

As in perfect synchrony, Marinette and Adrien took their phones from her purse and his shoulder bag unlocked and opened the incoming messages.

"Yes" Marinette clenched her fist. She showed her code around with a victory dance, she wiggled and danced and Adrien could not take his eyes off from her. Alya pounced onto the smaller girl and screamed with her. Nino was repeating "Dude" from time to time. Finally, Alya pounced back on Nino (who did not complain at all) and screamed her joy out (he might complain about that later, but not now, it was useless).

Then Marinette stopped to type a message Chat.

Bug: I got the code!

Adrien looked at the performance before him with his eyes and mouth open. After the girls settled a bit he finally looked at his phone again. A new message popped up.

First he checked the messages from Ladybug. She was also waiting for her code to arrive but she got it. He grinned.

And the other message from an unknown number contained a string of eight letters and numbers, it was his code.

"I got it too." Adrien smiled and flashed his code to his three friends. There was more screaming and hugging, he pulled Marinette into a hug. Alya was screaming and taking pictures. They separated and Adrien bumped fists with Nino.

Then he replied to Ladybug.

Cat: Great, me too. Noodles here I come.

Marinette burst into laughter once again as she was looking at her phone.

"I can't believe this. My parents said they would both go if I won." Marinette smiled and waved her head in disbelief.

"Let's all go to the bakery and tell them." Alya waved. The hidden motive of getting stuffed with pastries was rather obvious but who cared.

Adrien went to his driver who waited patiently in the car. The blonde boy grinned and cheered while he showed him the code and explained what it was. His driver grunted, but there were traces of a smile and he nodded when Adrien said he was going to the bakery to celebrate.

Once there, the cheers continued. Marinette quickly purchased three return tickets leaving next Friday after school for the three of them and Sabine typed in the credit card details needed to cover the difference.

Sabine quickly called her family in China.

Marinette was explaining to her father the situation with Adrien as well as she could.

Adrien purchased the two plane tickets for himself and his driver for the same flight, but there was even some money left and Adrien continued searching for the connection to Lhasa. The only affordable option was to purchase the train tickets through an agency related to the airplane carrier company so he did.

"You won't believe this." Sabine said once she disconnected. "They are very busy right now I will hear for them in about an hour. Uncle Cheng is having a culinary performance in Lhasa and they invited us to join them on the way."

Marinettes great uncle Cheng was also a world famous chef and he often searched for inspiration in different parts of the world. And he had just planed to go to Lhasa for a culinary performance and to spend a week in Tibet looking for the new ingredients.

Marinette patted her purse. She knew this was a strike of good luck even the Lucky Charm could not match.

The kids left for school chatting and full of pastries.

"Alya and Nino, this is where you come in. The food is being delivered from a restaurant, you should pick it up. You are also taking pictures of me in Paris and posting it on my Instagram account. But only when I tell you I am allowed out. I will also send you the photos from the Agreste mansion. That way, Nathalie will think I am in Paris." Adrien grinned. Both Alya and Nino nodded. "Chloe is visiting her mother, so I do not have to worry about her noticing."


	7. Chapter 7 - The Takeoff

Takeoff

Marinette spent most of her evening and night taking the kwami for a walk. She even released Xuppu. She asked the kwami about the temple and its monks, but the answers were different from one kwami to another and often resulted in funny arguments and a game of tag around her room.

In the morning, Marinette was packed and her parents were giving the last set of instructions to the replacements they employed in the bakery during holidays. There were plenty of university students with sufficient training and experience in baking eager to find a temporary job over the holidays that Tom and Sabine had no issues in finding replacements. There were no special orders, there were no special treats, only the basic functioning of the bakery with few basic products will be maintained with shorter working hours.

It was Friday, the last day of school before the holidays. Adrien packed his small suitcase as Ladybug instructed. Only the basic essentials. The bag was in the trunk of the car already last night. His driver made sure of it. The man was showing more enthusiasm for the trip.

Nathalie informed Adrien during breakfast that her and Gabriel will not be available for the lunch break and that he should keep to a strict schedule she sent him as soon as he gets home from school and fencing. Adrien smiled and thanked. He was grateful for his training as a model, except this time he had to hide his grin instead of to force his perfect model smile.

His driver took him to the school.

The students were excited about the beginning of the school holidays, but the two most excited students were exceptionally calm.

Anything could go wrong.

What if his father catches him?

What if he is recognized at the airport and someone posts a picture on the social media?

What if …?

Marinette walked over straight to him in the classroom and produced a brown paper bag. It was a black hoodie. She grinned.

"You are really prepared for this secret agent mission, Marinette." Adrien grinned.

The last bell rang.

Alya and Nino waved Adrien to his car. They kept silent on what was going on. His driver was not taking him home for lunch. His driver was taking them to the airport.

Marinette ran home, her parents were waiting just inside the building with suitcases, waiting.

They all got into Adrien's car quickly and went for the airport.

Passports? Check!

Boarding passes? On the phones! Check!

Cash and credit cards? Check!

Marinette's heart was beating like crazy.

Adrien grinned in the back of the car and put on the black hoodie.

Tom sat in the front next to the driver and the two made friends instantly. Because Tom gave him a croissant before he buckled his seatbelt.

Marinette sat between Sabine and Adrien in the back. Adrien could not hold his excitement any longer. He wrapped his arm around Marinette and squeezed her. The girl squeaked and blushed severely. Sabine gave her daughter a look but turned her eyes through the window quickly.

Adrien poked her in the ribs with the index finger from his other hand. His legs were jittery and he could not hold his excitement any more. He was nervous because he could get caught. He was happy because he was going, escaping the prison of the Agreste mansion, spending holiday with a friend and he will even meet Ladybug.

Tom and Sabine were aware that Adrien was sneaking behind his father's back but the boy was going with his bodyguard, so they accepted it as fun and games. They made jokes about crossing the border control like spies and asked Adrien how many passports he had.

Finally, Adrien calmed down, but his arm never left Marinettes shoulders. He was looking through the window thinking about Ladybug. He knew she was on the same flight. But he should not search for her. He wandered if she was taking a train and a metro to the airport or she was in a car just like him. He wandered if she was as excited as him.

Marinette could not help herself. She kept quiet and mostly kept calm by concentrating on her breathing. Adrien wrapped an arm around her and poked at her and she kept telling herself that she was going there on a mission, not a romantic adventure. She focused her thoughts on Chat Noir, that did not help much, then she remembered Master Fu and the temple in Tibet and the task ahead. She kept repeating the task in her head like a mantra.

They reached the airport, left the car on a long term parking and went straight for boarding.

The security check was strict, they basically unpacked their luggage and then packed back. Watches had to be taken off, belts, coins and phones from the pockets.

The automatic border control machines did not complain.

And then, there were shops. High fashion, expensive jewels and watches, and then there was a large shop with wine and food, specifically cheeses, specifically Camembert. Adrien felt scratching and pulling in his shirt and he knew, if he does not go there, Plagg will float out there on his own. He excused himself and went to the shelf with cheeses. He bought as many wheels as he could hide in his school bag and then a few more for his hand luggage. Plagg kept whining about each wheel that was left on the shelf, but Adrien paid and left the shop. He silenced the little god only when he stuffed him in his school bag together with the cheese.

They reached their gate and found seats where all five of them could wait.

They were calling for the business class passengers to take priority boarding and board the plane first.

Suddenly Marinette put the black hood over his head and his bodyguard hunched down and put a nondescript black beret on his head. Tom suddenly had an urge to shift his seat so that he was blocking the view towards his bodyguard. The silent agreement between the two men became obvious.

At the boarding gate, the attendant was polite and professional, but obviously annoyed. She was pointing to a specific box held between very elegant couple. Both were slim and tall. His white hair combed meticulously, his glasses the picture of class, he wore a white jacket, grey vest underneath and red trousers. The woman who stood next to him was wearing elegant black suit. The picture of business class passengers. Between them they had a box holding insects.

"I am really sorry sir, but you can't take this on board if you do not have the proper paperwork." A woman on the counter was explaining to a business class passenger.

"My boss needs this with him on this trip." Nathalie was explaining. Adrien recognized the voice among the murmur of the other passengers. They sat a few rows of seats away, but the discussion at the boarding gate became sufficiently loud that they could hear it.

"We can not guarantee that you would be able to enter the country with these once you arrive." The airport official took her stance.

"Then it is under my responsibility." that was the voice of his father, Gabriel Agreste, the same tone he used when he scolded his son for his behaviour.

Adrien was opening the layout of the seats on his phone. What if he and his bodyguard had to pass by his father and Nathalie? His back was turned towards the boarding gate and his hair was hidden in the black hoodie, but his orange sneakers were rather visible. While he browsed Marinette was fussing with her luggage and suddenly one bag found its way behind his sneakers.

"The sign these forms, please, sir." The official pulled out some forms and Gabriel signed them quickly. The man was so annoyed, he never bothered to look around. He felt the anxiety of the people surrounding him as was expected before a long transcontinental flight. People with less self control than him might try to fuss, but not him. He did not want any attention on this voyage. Nathalie was focused on the boarding attendant and the paperwork the whole time. She expected to be scolded for missing out on preparing the paperwork for the transport of the butterflies they carried in a small bug container. She took a copy of the forms and they passed the boarding gates and entered the tube that lead to the airplane.

Adrien sighed in relief and showed his phone to Marinette. The business passengers were seated in the front of the plane and economy in the back and the tube was connected in the middle. Him and his bodyguard will not have to pass by his father and Nathalie.

Tom bumped fists with Adrien's bodyguard and both men smiled. Tom with a wide grin, Adrien's bodyguard a bit awkward but happy. It was obvious the man did not smile often, or in a long time.

Finally, the economy passengers were boarding through the automatic gates and going towards the back of the airplane. When they finally got to their seats, Marinette sat next to a window, Adrien in the middle and his bodyguard next to a passage with Tom and Sabine just behind, Sabine sat next to the window.

Then Tom started to produce food straight out from his bag that he put below Adrien's seat. He was nervous and had too eat. The others were too nervous or excited to eat.

'Boarding complete' the speakers said. Soon the plane started to move slowly backwards. Marinette leaned back to allow Adrien to look through the window. They were seated in the back of the plane and had a good look at other airplanes and many strange vehicles that operated around the airport.

'The passengers are kindly requested to switch their phone into the airplane mode.' the speakers said. They finally remembered that they had phones and found the function they used for the first time.

"Hey, I could use this one with Nathalie and say that I did not know the signal was bad." Adrien snickered. Marinette rolled her eyes. Adrien switched on the camera to took a few photos but then put it away. He was bursting from excitement. He wrapped Marinette into a hug and put his chin on her shoulder to look through the window.

Marinette would have asked him if he wanted to change seats and look through the window, but at first she was a bit intimidated by stewardess who ordered to go to the exact seat as designated on her boarding pass. Right now she was speechless. Which was probably for the best considering the history of past conversations with Adrien.

It was a huge plane and normal planes looked tiny as they passed by. The plane moved very slowly towards the runway. Their seats were buckled up and stewardesses and stewards walked by the aisles checking if everything was okay.

They moved slowly in a row of planes waiting for their turn to take the runway. They could watch how other planes were accelerating and taking off. They watched as small vortices formed behind their wings. Adrien spoke excitedly about everything until someone from the row in front of them produced shushing sounds and they were both quiet.

They looked at each other and then at other passengers. Some of them kept their eyes closed, like Adrien's bodyguard. Others were chewing something, the guy on the other side of the aisle probably stuffed a whole package of chewing gums in his mouth. Tom was stuffing himself with pastry. Sabine nibbled on the same cookie for at least twenty minutes now and Tom was teasing her about it for the last ten.

Finally, it was their turn, the plane turned, they could see the other planes waiting in queue and then their backs got glued to their seats. The kids looked outside with curiosity. They could hear prayers mumbled in several languages from rows before and behind them. They smiled to each other and looked out.

They took off and watched Paris from the air. Marinette and Adrien remembered how many times she saw Paris from the air with Chat but they seldom got this high, then they got higher and then even higher again.


	8. Chapter 8 - Above the Clouds

Above the clouds

Marinette peeked through the airplane window. Adrien rested his chin on her shoulder looking through the same window. She felt his torso move due to his breathing breathing as he leaned onto her. His breath was tickling her neck. His arms were around her. Her face was burning and it took everything in her just to breathe. Tikki was in the purse she put underneath the seat in front of her. Marinette kept her foot touching the purse and she could feel Tikki hopping inside.

Adrien's expression was pure bliss. He was excited, relieved he boarded the airplane and absolutely happy to have his friend by his side. He let go of his inhibition and grabbed the girl and squeezed as if she was his teddy bear.

The buildings and houses got smaller and smaller. The rivers cut the green area below them with specks of rugged grey in place of cities. Adrien was excited to see the nuclear power plant and surprised how it formed its own cloud just above it. Then there were windmills above the green fields. The ground was covered in a layer of clouds further in the distance. They watched the clouds, especially several tall shapes that were sticking out from a monotonous white layer below them. They recognized different shapes from those clouds.

"Hey, that cloud looks like Mme Mendeleev head." Adrien pointed to a cloud. The cloud really looked like there was a profile of someone with rather distinctive nose.

Marinette laughed. The laughter escaped her lips before she could think about any other reaction. She was relaxing into Adrien's embrace.

"Let's see who else could we find." he whispered. Her pigtail tickled his neck, but he did not mind. Suddenly, nobody expected certain level of his behaviour and he felt free.

"And that one looks like Chloe pouting." he pointed to another cloud. It was a tall cumulonimbus cloud with a trail of cirrus on the top.

"It even has a pony tail." Marinette laughed.

Then a noise behind them forced them to turn around.

Technically, Adrien was seated in his seat as he was buckled up, but his whole upper body leaned on and over Marinette. The stewardess gave them a wide smile and a lunch package. They unfolded their tables and put the food on them.

Adrien's bodyguard audibly grunted when he saw the size of the portion. Tom passed forward a quiche and the man was instantly in a better mood. They studied and ate their food when they were offered drinks, the adults took glasses of wine while the kids took juice. After the stewardess went to tend some other passengers, Tom offered more food.

Marinette sneaked a cookie into her purse and lifted the purse to the window so Tikki could admire the view she kept a watchful eye on Adrien who was rummaging through his school bag that he put under the seat in front of him. He was mumbling something to himself with his head almost under the seat.

"Plagg, you ate everything that I put in the school bag! You are such a glutton. I do not want to give you any more Camembert on this flight." Adrien whispered.

"Those stewardesses totally forgot to deliver food for hungry kwami." Plagg grumbled back.

Adrien snickered. "I can't believe what kind of glutton you are." Adrien whispered.

"I can't believe we are flying economy. I bet they have some fine cheeses in business class." Plagg crossed his arms.

"Yeah, and my father too." Adrien sighed.

"Perhaps I should go and see?" Plagg proposed.

The little black cat-like god could easily phase all the way to the airplane food storage and create a void in the cheese box and Adrien felt a bit uneasy.

"I will get you more Camembert as soon as we land. You had enough. Please do not make any trouble." Adrien took his kwami and stuffed him in his shirt. While Marinette was looking through the window and checking something in her purse, Adrien dared to open his white shirt a bit so that Plagg could peek through the window too. Plagg peeked through the window for a short while and then he gave Adrien a look that was saying 'Those clouds remind me of cheese.' With that he curled back inside his shirt. The little god of destruction still peeked out through a small gap, careful not to be caught peeking by the boy who held him.

Soon, the adults were sleeping with their full stomachs and the kids were back on the window with Adrien holding his chin on Marinette's shoulder and his arms around her. It was darker and taller clouds were spreading long shadows above the lower ones. It was silent, the constant rumbling of the engines was slowly lulling them to sleep.

Marinette woke up to a sound coming from the seats in front of her. Someone was trying to wake up someone else to go to the toilet. Slowly she blinked her eyes open and saw the seat in front of her from a strange perspective. The different pitches of snoring were surrounding her supported by the background noise of the airplane engines. She discovered that she could not move her body. She was completely wrapped up into something, no someone, that someone was breathing. She could not move to see but her brain told her it was Adrien. He wrapped his arms around her and used her as a pillow. His torso rested partially on her back and partially on her side. She felt his every inhale and exhale. His head rested on her ear, while her head rested on her arm that she could not feel any more. Her arm went numb. She tried to pull the numb arm from under her head using her other arm, but when she did it, her head dropped, and consequently Adrien's head moved too. She stiffened.

He opened his eyes, stiffened, relaxed and tightened his arms around her.

She breathed again.

Only then he realized that he was holding something alive, somebody, he remembered sitting next to Marinette. He smiled. Then he slightly opened his eyes and raised his head up to see her. She quickly shut her eyes. Her breathing was uneven and her eyes squeezed shut unnaturally. She was clearly awake. But he was still sleepy, he smiled and leaned his face into her back onto the side of her head.

"Marinette." He whispered quietly. He wanted her awake. Just like he would find grumpy Plagg n the middle of the night in his dark and spacious room. But now, he would not pull Plagg out in the crowded airplane, but had a better replacement. He had Marinette.

She felt more than heard him calling her name. She nodded weakly. He straightened up and pulled her up with him. Marinette made a painful expression at the sensation of blood rushing back into her arm.

"Sorry I fell asleep." Adrien smiled his model smile.

Marinette smiled back and blinked. "Me too."

"We, um, this is an overnight flight?" Adrien blinked his eyes to keep them open.

Marinette was feeling her arm.

"Are you okay, did I crush you?" he asked and offered his gentle smile. His warm green eyes looked at her gently.

Why did he use the word crush, she wandered. He was her crush. He was also expecting an answer. She waved her head.

He noticed her limp arm that she was still holding.

"Your arm went numb?" he asked worriedly.

Marinette nodded.

"Sorry." He smiled sheepishly. He rubbed her shoulders and pulled her close. He liked using her as a giant cuddly teddy bear. She was warm and her closeness made him feel warm inside. After a while he looked at her hand. "Better?" he asked. She nodded in response. She hoped the weak night lights in the plane did not reveal the full extent of her blush.

"Hey" he whispered "Can we see the stars?" and he leaned over her again. Soon they were able to recognize few stars but not whole constellations. But the Moon was fantastic. They stared at the moon and breathed in silence.

For Marinette, breathing steadily was a major achievement. Her breath hitched or fell heavy when ever Adrien wrapped his arms around her, but she could hide her reaction with the excitement of the travel. Now they were breathing steadily and she concentrated on having constant steady breaths. Soon, both teens were sleeping again.

They were woken up by a stewardess serving breakfast and coffee. It was still dark outside and it felt too early to wake up, let alone have breakfast. The kids were eating their breakfast. Marinette quickly slid the cookie she got with her breakfast in her purse. Adrien took a piece of cheese and felt his shirt pocket. Plagg was not there although Adrien was sure this was the last place where he put his little black kwami. Plagg probably escaped his shirt pocket when Adrien leaned onto and fallen asleep on Marinette. He sneaked a piece of cheese in his school bag without checking the insides.

A stewardess behind them was on the fixed airplane phone talking to her colleague in the front.

"I am telling you, Roger, none of us from economy were nowhere near the business class storage." she explained, she was obviously annoyed. She listened to the other side.

"You should check your list. Have you ordered cheese anyway and was it even loaded?" she continued.

Adrien ducked under his tray table and opened his school bag. Plagg was there, but he was motionless, save the heavy breathing of his little body. Adrien poked him but received no response as the little glutton was probably unconscious and the piece of cheese Adrien put there half a minute ago was untouched. Adrien poked at the little god of cheese gluttony and destruction again and snickered. Then he straightened up. He gave Marinette one more smile and kept eating.

Marinette found his behaviour awkward. But one smile and she forgot whatever she found awkward in him.

Tom shared the last of the food from the bakery with Adrien's bodyguard as others decided they were not hungry.

Stewardesses collected the trash as the pilot announced they would be landing shortly. The sky lit up and soon, Marinette and Adrien watched the sunrise from the plane window. The red and the orange glow and finally a glowing orange disc peeked above the horizon. They could see about a quarter of it at one point. But as they descended, the orange disc of the sun disappeared as it was below the horizon again.

The touchdown woke up everyone who fell asleep after breakfast. Marinette's head bumped into Adrien's.

"Um sorry." she muttered holding her head.

"It is okay, Marinette." he smiled back. "I should be sorry for hitting you."

"um, no no no" She protested. But Adrien grinned and pointed through the window. The plane has turned around as it moved away from the runway and was now taxiing to the airport terminal. They could see the sunrise again. They both watched smiling sleepily.

Adrien held Marinette, leaned his chin on her shoulder and looked through the window all the way to the terminal. Marinette relaxed and leaned into him. He felt complete, like there was nothing missing, nothing needed, nothing to worry about. Marinette was happy, just happy, simply happy, nothing more and nothing less. There was no mission, she was not Ladybug at the time. She was not thinking about herself as just a friend nor of him as her future husband with three kids and a hamster. It was just then and there and the two of them.

Tom nudged Sabine and they both peeked at the kids in front of them. Adrien's bodyguard watched the two teens with soft eyes. Although Tom's eyes glistened with mischief with the idea of teasing the two kids and Sabine smiled knowingly, none of them teased the kids nor disturbed their peace.


	9. Chapter 9 - Meet the Relatives

Meet the relatives

The moment the plane stopped, people around them unbuckled their seatbelts and got up stretching their legs. Adrien did not move, he looked at the neighbouring plane and vehicles around it through the window. He did not want to let go of this live and warm teddy bear. Marinette, on the other hand, did not want him to let go. So they kept sitting like that even when people who stood up tens of minutes ago finally started to slowly drift towards the exit carrying and pulling their hand luggage.

Only when his bodyguard grunted and Tom patted his back, Adrien finally, slowly and reluctantly let go. Instinctively, his body stretched. Marinette too as she turned around. She saw her parents watching her and she blushed. Suddenly she became aware that her parents were sitting just behind her and could see show they cuddled most of the flight.

Adrien noticed his bodyguard watching him and then Tom towering above him. He knew how much the man was protective of his daughter and Adrien has been all over her all night, cuddling, using her for warmth and pillow. He blushed too and bent over to take his school bag from underneath the seat in front of him and hide his blush at the same time.

"I am glad you two have such healthy colour after this long flight." Sabine cheered with a glint in her eyes and a smirk on her lips. The kids were both bent over their seats collecting their schoolbag and backpack from below the seats in front of them when Tom and Sabine exchanged looks with Adrien's bodyguard.

"Come on, let's go out." Tom grinned at the kids as soon as they straightened up.

They collected their things from the hand luggage compartment and walked out. They soon caught up with the rest of the passengers who were in the queue and slowly leaving the plane.

The business class passengers were the first to leave the plane so Adrien thought he was safe from being spotted by his father, but he put his hood over his head just in case.

Marinette wandered how Chat Noir was doing. She checked the messaging application they used to communicate when they were not transformed and saw his message.

Cat: landed in Beijing, noodles here I come.

She laughed at the message and quickly replied.

Bug: me too, good luck.

Then she checked the messages from Alya, no akumas and lot of teasing about travelling with Adrien. She blushed and replied about having her parents and his bodyguard with them all the time.

Adrien sent a message to Ladybug on the messaging application as soon as he got network. She replied that she was there too and he felt relieved. After that he sent messages to Nino and Alya. He did not reply to their messages, they seemed strange and full of code words. Were his friends teasing him about Marinette? He must have misunderstood something. He was probably tired from the jet lag and the time shift and sleeping on an airplane probably did not help.

They walked by the customs office completely ignored by the officials who were rather busy with one couple.

"What do you mean you have to put them in the quarantine? How long will it last. We have a connecting flight." the voice of none other than Gabriel Agreste protested. Adrien and his bodyguard nudged their heads down and did not look. The custom officers took the elegantly dressed couple behind a paravan so there was actually nothing to see.

"I am sorry sir, you do not have the proper paperwork for importing animals into China. You can get the paperwork done and your animals can stay in the quarantine while you do it." The official replied calmly but obiouly enjoying himself and his authority.

"I refuse to part with them. I insist on having them with me on our voyage." Gabriel protested.

"You can reschedule your connecting flight and stay in the hotel on the airport but your animaly are going to the quarantine." The official insisted.

They missed the rest of the conversation as they entered the arrivals area. Adrien wandered what kind of animals would his father bring with him. Animals as in plural. He did not remember ever having a pet. Was his father having pets? The boy saw his father so rarely that it was possible his father actually owned pets that Adrien did not know about. (And yes, that part was totally true).

Master Chang Fu was waiting for them. He put them in his mini van and drove away from the airport. It was foggy, or perhaps hazy, the visibility was poor and the famous chef explained this is because of the pollution so he will leave the van and they will continue with the metro.

The metro was crowded. It was full. They were all squashed together for several stops. Adrien and Marinette were side by side and did not separate once the train became less crowded.

They met the rest of the family on the train station. There were two couples with two kids who arrived from different parts of the country. They were Sabine's relatives. Adrien insisted on practising his Chinese. They insisted on practising their French and even English. The conversations quickly became really funny as one would begin in one language, continue in another and finish in third. And everyone laughed.

Marinette and Adrien quickly connected with the two Marinette's cousins. The girl and a boy were few years older than them. They also did not know each other well as they did not live close.

They left they luggage at the train station and walked the city to visit the sights. It was already busy with tourists but the great uncle has taken them on a long walk to see the main sights.

"I am sorry that we have to leave already this evening. There are so many things to see, perhaps when we come back." Marinette's great uncle explained.

They spent the whole morning walking around Tiananmen Square and the sights around it. They grabbed a quick lunch on their feet and went to visit the Forbidden City later. They visited several pagodas and monuments on their way to the train station.

Adrien often wrapped his arm around Marinette and took a selfie. Marinette was slowly getting used to him doing that. She blushed for each photo all the same. She was making photos of her own, of her family and the sites they visited and the goofy stuff they did during lunch to send to Alya as soon as she had Wi-Fi. They chatted with her relatives, especially the kids.

Both of them were dresses in jeans and red t-shirts with black straight hair and brown eyes. The girl, Ling, was as tall as Adrien and the boy, Ye, was even taller. They were few years older and felt like the hosts so they often explained what they could see and what important events happened there in the past. Although they both claimed they were not interested in art and history, they both knew a lot and were sometimes competing who will dig out more interesting fact. Ling was learning French and was trying to translate their conversations to Marinette, but it often happened that Adrien had did the translation first while she was still in the middle of bater with Ye.

Sabine chatted with her relatives while Tom was talking with Adrien's bodyguard. It started with Tom saying a stupid joke and Adrien's bodyguard gave him a surprised look. The next joke from Tom drew the corners of his lips up, then the great uncle Cheng joined in with his own cooking pun, Tom threw in another bakery pun and so on until the silent man was full time laughing.

Marinette noticed her mother and her relatives watching her while they talked. At one moment Adrien blushed. He understood what they were saying.

"You also brought Marinette's boyfriend with you." one of the relatives has said as a matter of fact.

Sabine laughed before explaining that they both won the competition and bought these plane tickets. But then Sabine said something else "They are just friends, but they could have fooled me too the way they behaved on the way here."

"So, tell me about yourself. I want to know everything about my cousin's boyfriend." The boy took a few steps towards Adrien and told him quietly in Chinese while they walked Tienanmen Square.

Adrien gaped.

"I have noticed you speak Chinese much better than her." he winked.

"I, um, had private Chinese lessons for few years now." Adrien answered a bit louder than his conversation partner was expecting. "And, Marinette is my friend."

The boy gave him an incredulous look.

Adrien felt his heart sank. His heart belonged to Ladybug. He loved Marinette as a friend not the way he loved Ladybug. At the same time, he felt an urge to wrap his arms around Marinette and spin her around right here in the middle of this fantastic, huge and rather crowded square.

"You two must be really good friends then." the boy sighed and looked Adrien straight in the eyes.

"We are." Adrien perked up. "She is awesome." the boy raised eyebrows at Adrien. "She designed an album cover for Jagged Stone." Adrien spoke excitedly.

"I did not know that." The boy smiled.

"She won a fashion competition that my father organized." Adrien smiled at the memory. "And I wore that hat at a fashion show."

"Okay, so your father organizes fashion competitions and you wore her hat." the boy said thoughtfully.

"Yes, I am a model." Adrien shrugged. He suddenly became aware that these kids do not know anything about his fame, about his reputation. They met him as a normal kid. They do not even know who his father is.

"I am sorry, I am really not interested in fashion." the boy apologized. "Tell me more about yourself, then, please."

Then Adrien briefly mentioned his father and missing mother, and all the activities he is into and the fact that his father does not actually know he is in China with his bodyguard.

"Wow" the boy said. "I thought he was your father. So you have not actually run away from home if your bodyguard is here." he stroked his chin. "Well I will go to university to study physics while my cousin Ling is preparing for chemistry. I used to train football, but now I only run on my own. I would like to run a marathon in a few years."

Marinette had a conversation of her own.

"I like your boyfriend." Ling told her in French.

"He" Marinette blushed "is not my boyfriend." she squeezed out the words and looked at her feet.

"You want him to be your boyfriend?" Ling asked.

Marinette nodded "please don't tell him."

"Why? Why don't you tell him?" Ling smiled at the blushing girl.

"He is incredible. He is so perfect. His father is famous fashion designer and very rich. He is a supermodel and there is a statue of him in the wax museum." Marinette looked at Ling and spoke quickly and quietly. Ling was not used to conversation in French and barely kept up. "And he loves some other girl." Marinette dropped her head, her chin on her chest.

"Only the last part is against you." Ling smiled. "Are you sure?"

Marinette nodded.

"But you are really good friends." Ling smiled.

Marinette was fighting not to cry. She was so happy for the last 24 hours.

"Hey, don't be sad. He is here, with you right now. Enjoy the time you have with him." Ling pulled Marinette close.

"Hey, let's take a photo of the four of us together." Ling said to the boys in front of her.

The boys turned around. Adrien instantly pulled his phone with one hand and wrapped his hand around Marinette's shoulders as if that was a necessary precondition for any photo. The two other kids stood behind them and he took the photo. Then Adrien asked Marinette if he could take a photo with her phone and she gave him her phone. Her eyes were still glossy from the unshed tears but her smile took over her face.

Marinette checked her purse from time to time and kept it opened so Tikki could peek at the sights. And Tikki appreciated it. She admired silently and gave Marinette a grateful look whenever Marinette took additional effort to allow Tikki to sneak a peek at something beautiful. And there were many things.

Adrien poked at Plagg from time to time with almost no response. The little cat god would just shuffle in his pocket. Plagg slept most of the day. He was probably experiencing what a food coma was. Adrien wandered how much cheese the little glutton obliterated on the plane. Well, his father certainly covered the costs with the business class tickets worthy of Gabriel Agreste and his assistant Nathalie.


	10. Chapter 10 - Come on, ride the train

Come on, ride the train

The train was leaving in the evening and the group raided the grocery shop her relatives chose for this purpose.

Marinette had packed sufficient amount of cookies in her backpack to last her a week (well, not her, but Tikki) if there were no akumas so she was not worried about finding food instantly. She also did not understand anything written on the labels and most of the packages were not transparent. Her parents, Adrien and his bodyguard were much more interested in the grocery shop where they stashed themselves for the train journey.

"The train from Beijing to Lhasa is 40 hours, kid." Plagg woke up as soon as Adrien asked where could he find cheese in the shop. The glutton obviously understood at least those words in Chinese.

"And you intend to feed me with this?"

"We are tourists. We are supposed to try local food." Adrien smiled teasing Plagg, but he worried how would he survive travelling with a hungry little god that is supposed to stay in hiding.

"I am not eating tofu!" Plagg protested.

Adrien finally managed to find the kind of cheese that would satisfy the little god of destruction and some snacks for himself.

Marinette was in trouble. She packed small snacks for all the different kwami, and she wanted to stash more, just in case. But this was difficult. She studied different packages of dry food and wandered what was inside.

Her mother has basically collected food for the whole group with the help of the great uncle and the rest of the relatives and currently Tom, Adrien's bodyguard and the great uncle had a competition who would pay for it as all three wanted to pay. In the end they all contributed.

"Tikki, what are these?" Marinette whispered holding a small sealed paper bag. The little red goddess peeked out only to disappear again because of the other shoppers around them. Marinette tried using her phone to translate the text but she was not sure how to turn the package, let alone to guess which characters are important.

In the meantime, Adrien stashed his basket with several items of cheese that Plagg did not particularly complain about. Weather it was for the actual lack of complaint or the fact that another shopper passed by, the boy was not sure, but he took a few pieces of cheese hoping to survive until their arrival to Lhasa.

Then, he found Marinette baffled by a paper bag of raisins. Well he knew those were raisins, it was written on them, but the package was not transparent and Marinette was trying to feel what was inside with her fingers.

He leaned on the shelf and above her.

"Need help?" he whispered in her ear.

She jumped and flailed her hands. The small plastic bag of raisins flew in the air. She blushed.

Adrien winked and grinned while he caught the bag of raisins before it fell to the floor.

"Looking for raisins?" Adrien smirked looking at the small paper package he held in his hand.

"Those are raisins? Oh thank you Adrien." she put them in her basket.

"Anything else?" he bowed "Your own shopping assistant at your service." He almost added My Lady.

Marinette stared at him for a moment, then she perked up. Why not?

"A...Actually yes." Marinette stuttered a little. Come on mouth, I am being confident here. "How about mixed nuts and dried bananas?"

Soon they had a full basket of small paper packages and Marinette happily danced to the register to pay for her purchase. Adrien followed with his cheese.

There they found the rest of the group who finally stashed the food in the bags.

After they finally left the shop they ran to pick up their baggage and then to the train.

They got two cabins with six beds each. They could pull small curtains on the side of the bed for privacy. The kids got the top bed each from the three levels on each side of the compartment. The beds in the middle level could be folded towards the walls of the cabin to make more space. As soon as the kids entered the cabin, they stored thair luggage on the top shelf and climbed onto their beds, then without a blink, let alone a word, they took out their phones and searched for Wi-Fi.

"Kids" was the only comment they got from the adults.

Bug: on the train, good night

Cat: chu chu from me too.

Cat: wanna meet later?

Bug: not this night,

Bug: nobody should see us transformed on the way

Bug: secret identity and stuff

A sighting of Ladybug and Chat Noir in China, on a train for Lhasa of all things, published on any social network would certainly be tracked down by a certain Ladyblogger on school holidays and she would definitely connect the dots this time. There was no way out from that and both teens were aware of that now.

After exchanging messages with Chat, Marinette sent a few pictures to Alya and then engaged in a long correspondence through the text messages where Alya was full of teasing questions and Marinette was full of one word or emoji answers. Alya was bored due to school holidays and the absence of akuma. She was even more bored by the fact that now she was in charge of babysitting her twin sisters even more often than usual.

Adrien replied to anything Nathalie sent him during the day and now he was in a chat with Nino. He sent his friend almost all the photos he made that day with long comments on which building was in the background. Adrien felt happy he could share the pictures with someone, grateful to have friends such as Nino and Alya. He had to keep his happiness about this journey away from everyone else he knew. Nino was engaged in answering and asking more questions so the messaging continued for more than an hour.

_Needless to say, few hours later, Nino showed those photos to Alya. She could not care less about the monuments and buildings in the background, Adrien had his arm around Marinette in each of them._

The adults were fast asleep on the beds below, exhausted form the travel they already experienced.

Marinette was reading something, it looked like a notebook and from time to time she was making notes. Adrien watched her and missed holding her in his arms to fall asleep. He thought of Ladybug and how she was probably on the same train as him. What if he walked up and down the train and checked all the passengers, he could find her, he could recognize her. But that was not what his lady wanted. His eyes finally closed and he drifted to sleep.

He woke up soon, he checked his phone and concluded that his short nap was probably less than twenty minutes. He was disappointed to see that Marinette has pulled her curtain. The small reading light was lit up above her bed and that was as much as he could see through the curtain and he could hear some quiet noises, as if someone was talking quietly. Adrien smiled, she probably could not sleep yet because of the time difference and was watching some show on her phone. The wireless network on the train was said to be excellent, at least the message on the wall said so.

He closed his eyes and listened, he heard whispers, but could not distinguish more than few individual words that told him nothing. Adrien wandered if he could ask Marinette to join her and watch the show together. But that would require him to sneak into her bed. Then he remembered the size of her father and how he got akumatized so he gave up. Then again, he did not complain on the airplane? He kept himself entertained by the thought a little more.

Adrien almost drifted back to sleep when he felt Plagg move. Plagg floated directly towards Marinette and was centimetres from phasing through her curtain. Adrien had really good eyes and reflexes if he managed to grab the little black kwami. He did not phase through his hands.

"I thought you were sleeping." Plagg hissed and crossed his arms.

"Where do you think you are going?" Adrien looked incredulous but whispered softly.

"Pigtails is having a party and you had fun all day." Plagg turned to look towards Marinette.

"Were you invited to the party? Besides, you slept through the whole day." Adrien teased.

"I have seen it all already." Plagg rolled his eyes. "And the answer is yes" Plagg teased back.

"What?" Adrien was perhaps a bit to loud. Plagg escaped into his pyjama.

"Just because your girlfriend did not invite you, does not mean I am not invited." Plagg snickered from his shirt.

Meanwhile, Marinette was reading her notes from her conversations with kwami and thinking of which kwami to wake up and what to ask them. The adults were snoring in the beds below but she waited for Adrien to fall asleep. Once she noticed his beautiful sleeping face she had to psyche herself before she pulled the curtain and took out the bracelet. She decided to wake up only one additional kwami at a time and avoid possible quarrelling.

"It was so nice to see the Forbiden City again and the temples. I wish we had more time." Tikki whispered dreamily. "But the city changed so much since the last time I was there."

"The temple should be the way it was before Master Fu made his mistake?" Marinette inquired. She was focused on the task ahead.

"Yes. Will you go to visit the temple in Lhasa?" Tikki asked her blue eyes blinking with hope. "I want to see how much it changed too."

"Haven't you been reading those texts on Tibet on my computer at home?" Marinette asked.

"Well, yes, but it is not as if you would look at it in person." Tikki sighed.

"Well you can find the time once we get there." Sass interfered, perhaps a bit disappointed that he was kept dormant in the bracelet.

The adults below snored rather loudly so she relaxed and talked quietly with Sass. Sass was calm and answered all her questions without too much fuss and secrecy.

"You should not reveal your identity when you get there." Sass advised and Tikki nodded.

"I told you that before." Tikki scolded quietly.

"You should always be devoted to your task but you should not forget that you are also a living being with your needs and dreams." Sass preached quietly.

It was Sass who proposed to get Mullo for one of her questions. So, she also got the Mouse miraculous and included Mullo in the conversation. Perhaps it was because Mullo was really needed and perhaps it was just because Sass wanted to hear stories about modern Beijing from Tikki.

"The temple serves as a sanctuary for the pilgrims." Mullo explained. "My holder often lead the lost pilgrims to the temple in the evenings and bad weather."

"That was long time ago." Marinette sighed. "I wander if I could enter again that way."

"Do not worry, everything will become clear once you get there." Mullo smiled.

Once again, she got more or less the same answer from each kwami. It would help if Mullo did not seem distracted by Tikki talking about Beijing with Sass.

"And how do I talk to the monks?" Marinette asked.

The three kwami shrugged. They never experienced a language barrier themselves, but were aware that their holders spoke different languages and sometimes could not make a conversation with another humans (and more often than not it was not only due to the language barrier).

Soon she was making notes and wrapping up offering some food she brought along. Tikki, Mullo and Sass ate quietly understanding the need to hide. She thought of few more questions and they resumed talking stories about past wielders.

At one moment she heard "What" from behind her back and froze. She felt some movement and some quiet hassle and then again it was only snoring of the adults below.

The kwami hid below her sheet and she pulled the curtain a little to see. Adrien was moving and then he turned around towards her, his eyes opened wide.

Marinette hitched a breath and covered herself up to the chin hiding her arms below the sheet.

"Hey." he whispered.

"Hey" she smiled, a bit nervously, but she hoped it was dark and he would not see it.

He saw it but did not show. He wanted to ask but did not want to pry. He wanted to hold her again and did not bother to ask himself why he wanted it. It just felt good, he felt calm, he felt safe.

He stretched out his arm and offered his hand.

"It is late, let's go to sleep." he said sleepily.

She contemplated for a moment on what to do. She did not want to refuse him, she really wanted to take his hand. At the same time, she had the snake miraculous around her wrist and was sure Adrien would recognize it. Then she turned and stretched out her arm (the one without a bracelet) and held his hand. They fell asleep holding hands. Three kwami snuggled onto her back. That is until a certain black kwami decided to join them.


	11. Chapter 11 - A day on a train

A day on a train

The next morning arrived too early.

Adrien was woken up when his bodyguard and Tom got up simultaneously to go for the toilet. The two large men in the confined space between the three-level bunk beds were a recipe that should wake up anyone around. Marinette's uncle was already awake reading, Sabine woke up and ordered the two men out in quiet tone – before they wake the kids.

Adrien laughed silently at Sabine's antics. He was awake as soon as the two men produced the first sound. On the other bed at the top level, Marinette slept quietly, her hand outstretched just like when she held his hand before they fell asleep. How could she be so sound asleep with all these noise and hassle was beyond him. But, he was used to sleeping in controlled environment without any noise or movement around. Marinette was sleeping soundly even when her father bumped into her bed just before going out of their compartment.

Adrien took her hand in his and smiled. He heard Sabine exchange morning greetings with her uncle and then they both got out from the compartment too. The moment the door shut, Plagg floated up from behind Marinette's back rubbing his green eyes. Adrien's eyes went wide. He quickly glanced at Marinette's face checking if she was still sleeping and was relieved to find that she was. Then he glared at Plagg who floated over to him slowly and lazily as if teasing him. Adrien glared some more, annoyed that that was the only reaction he could produce at the time without waking up Marinette.

However, as soon as the girl sleeping next to him sighed in her sleep, Plagg was gone into Adrien's pyjama. He snickered in Adrien's shirt. Adrien waved his hand to swat him, but thought better of it as he would also swat himself.

Plagg went there last night to talk to Tikki and hear the news about how the palaces and the temples changed since the last time they were there. They chatted about the old days and the holders they had. He fell asleep and was woken up by Tikki who poked him several times, tougher and tougher until the little god of destruction took the message. But when he was ready to float up, Tikki pulled him down and put a finger over her mouth. Tikki was angry because Plagg had overslept his welcome and could be caught by Marinette. But, he was supposed to return to Adrien without being noticed by other passengers. Tikki was, perhaps for the first time, happy that her chosen was such a heavy sleeper.

Marinette opened her eyes and the first thing she saw was green. It was the warm green of Adrien's eyes. She blinked a few times and smiled, she was certain she was still dreaming, and it was a nice dream, she was in no need to wake up. So she smiled at the green eyes she was looking out without moving or talking.

Adrien saw her open her eyes and smiled. He did not say anything. Her eyes were so blue and calm. And she smiled so gently at him. He felt so nice and warm inside, perhaps a little bubbly and perhaps there was a hint of butterflies in his stomach, but he ignored them. Marinette looked so happy and at peace that he did not want to disturb her.

The moment was disturbed when his bodyguard returned to the compartment. He did it wordlessly, both of them turned to the large man, he nodded and they nodded in return.

"Good morning" Adrien greeted as he nodded and then turned to Marinette.

Marinette on the other hand, nodded automatically, without thinking and then quickly switched her eyes back to Adrien. The head of Adrien's bodyguard was below the level of her bed and there was Adrien apparently holding her hand. She felt him squeeze her hand slightly tighter before she heard him again.

"Good morning Marinette." he smiled at her widely and continued to look at her. He was only half expecting her to answer, he did not mind the silence.

Then, she finally woke up, she realized this was real, it was not a dream and it was Adrien's hand squeezing hers and they slept in beds not even a metre apart. She spent the night before cuddled with him sharing their two seats in the airplane and now they were here. Then she felt Tikki pat her back, and then she felt the two other kwami. Oh yes, she was talking to Sass and Mullo last night. She should find a way to meet with Chat Noir on the train.

"Good. Good morning Adrien." she greeted back, her voice hoarse. She had to find a way to remove the additional jewels of the Snake and Mouse miraculous. Her other hand was hidden under a blanket so the bracelet was not visible and she was covered almost up to her ears. She should have been more careful. It was not a wise idea to sleep with the kwami through the night.

Marinette's father entered the compartment and there was some more hassle.

"Good morning kids" Tom greeted. You should go to the bathroom and then we could have some breakfast."

"Good morning papa." Marinette and Adrien let go of their hands.

"Good morning Tom." Adrien greeted. He quickly grabbed a small bag with his toiletries and his phone and jumped down from the bed straight to the floor.

Marinette was thankful for that, she quickly removed the bracelet from her hand. Marinette expected he remembered the bracelet quite well since Adrien saw the bracelet and used it as Aspik. Then she took off the Mouse miraculous and put them both to safe keeping in the box wrapped in a colourful cloth bag in her backpack. Then she grabbed her things and jumped to the floor too. She noticed how her father and Adrien's bodyguard flinched when she landed. Just when she was about to go out, she found Sabine and her uncle talking in front of the compartment door.

Marinette quickly typed the message on her phone. She was warned by Tikki not to transform on the way bud decided there should be a way to arrange a meeting just this once.

Bug: Can we meet today?

Her phone chimed with a returning message quickly.

Cat: just name when and where.

Bug: okay, I'll find a place.

Adrien looked at his phone where he stood in a tiny bathroom. It had a shower, a toilet and a wash sink and even a mirror and an electric plug, but everything was squeezed into less than one square metre. He wandered how they did it. Then he received Ladybug's answer. Perhaps it was unfair to ask Ladybug to organize everything. He quickly finished and got out from the bathroom. This was men's bathroom. Next to it was women's bathroom. Both were marked with drawings of a man and a woman as well as Chinese symbols. There was additional door with no sign. It was locked but he found it was easy to open it just by sticking in a toothpick he had in his toiletries. He grinned and typed his idea to Ladybug.

Marinette was in the tiny bathroom when she finally read the answer from Chat. She got out of the bathroom and found that there was third door, barely recognizable in her sleepy state and that indeed if she stuck her hair pin in the hole she could move the bolt just enough to open it. It was small and dark supply closet but is would do. And the two bathrooms were close by so they could transform there.

Bug: meet me there in an hour.

Marinette rushed back to her compartment. She typed the code from her phone to open the door to enter. And met her father's back.

The compartment was completely full as all her relatives squeezed in to enjoy some time together. The word 'enjoy" might have not been the most appropriate one to describe the experience. They stood or sat cramped together and there was no possibility to eat anything.

"I can climb up and eat on my bed. And Ling can join me." Marinette proposed. Her father moved to the corridor so she could climb and the girl joined her.

Adrien motioned to Ye and the two boys climbed up to his bed. They sat with their legs pulled up and crossed on the bed while the adults shuffled beneath them and distributed the food. Tom passed the food to the kids and everyone finally ate.

Marinette bent down, practically hanging upside down to grab some milk. Adrien remembered how clumsy Marinette could be and admired her bravery for a second before he quickly put his bowl to the side, leaned over with the intention to grab her shirt and prevent her from falling down. However, the back of her shirt slid down and his hand was on her naked back. Marinette stiffened and squeaked and at that point it was necessary for Adrien to hold her and prevent her fall. So he pressed her back into the edge of her bunk bed.

"Calm down and pull yourself up." Adrien almost laughed at her. His grin almost split his face in half. Ling and Ye almost spilled their food while laughing. They were too entertained to interfere.

"Um. I can't?" Marinette replied. She was red in the face, but she was also hanging upside down.

Adrien put one leg on Marinette's bed and bent over grabbing her shoulder with his other hand and pulled her up.

She was completely red in the face and was holding a carton of milk in her hands.

Ling and Ye applauded and cheered.

"Listen" Ye started quietly "Ling and me applied for an excursion to see that new temple that magically appeared in the mountains. Would you like to join?"

Marinette and Adrien nodded eagerly.

"Okay, it is meant only for the young Chinese, how will we do this?" Ling cocked her head.

"We will just fill in that form. Look." Ye showed his phone to Adrien who nodded. The form on the phone was in Chinese and required some basic input. "I think your Chinese is good enough to pass that." Ye winked.

"I am not so sure about this." Ling complained as she showed her phone to Marinette. Marinette opened the web page and Ling leaned over.

"So you need a Chinese name, I guess." Ye whispered to Adrien.

"Can I be Marinette Cheng?" Marinette asked Xu.

"Better make it Ma Cheng." Ling sighed.

"And I will be ..." Adrien tapped his chin with his index finger "Rien Cheng!" he smiled to Marinette who stopped breathing.

"You can be brother and sister." Ling nudged Marinette to click on one part of the form. "That way you will be in the same group."

"And my little sister forgot to speak proper Chinese while she lived with her French father in Paris for a few years?" Adrien asked Ye, but he winked to Marinette.

"Don't use that excuse unless you absolutely have to." Ye waved his head with a smile on his face.

"We will also mark you two as part of our group." Ling waved her head as she was doing that.

"Time to train you some spoken Chinese." Adrien grinned at Marinette. The girl hid her face in her palms.

"Okay, you are on the list." Ling checked the phone.

"We will know the rest when we get there." Ye shrugged.

After that, they played a game of making Marinette talk in Chinese. She tried and tried and mostly made the other three laugh.

Most of the adults left the compartment, Tom and Adrien's bodyguard admired the view through the window while the kids chatted on the top bunk bed.

Adrien was checking his phone and typing while Ling tried to train Marinette to say one simple sentence. Marinette felt her phone vibrate for an incoming message. It was too early in Europe for Alya. She checked her phone. The time was passing quickly and she was about to meet Chat Noir in that tiny storage room.

Cat: let me know when to escape my company

She quickly tapped back her reply.

Bug: can't do it right now, have company.

Marinette let go of her phone and tried again. This time she was good and all three kids applauded.

The rest of the morning passed in looking through the window, talking about life in China and training Marinette in speaking more Chinese.

Marinette went to the bathrooms before lunch and concluded there was too much traffic to try meeting with Chat there and sent him a message.

After lunch she got a reply from Chat that the bathroom area was still rather busy.

Bug: perhaps late in the evening then.

Ling and Ye invited Marinette and Adrien to join them in their compartment and play a game. They learned a new game and Marinette had to speak more Chinese. Their attention often wandered towards something they could see through the window as the scenery changed quickly from meadows to villages and huge cities.


	12. Chapter 12 - Late night conversations

Late night conversations

The night came and Marinette still had no time alone to talk to other kwami than Tikki. She planned to take kwami for a walk every evening, just like she did at home, and now it was hardly possible. Every bit of space was busy and crowded, there was no privacy. Being a superhero with a secret identity was much easier in France than in China. Marinette lied on her bed with an open purse next to her head.

"You should not transform on the way Marinette." Tikki warned from the purse, again. Marinette sighed, she did not want to be caught talking to her purse by Adrien who was on his bed less than a metre away. How awkward would that be? She took her phone and typed.

Bug: Meet you in 20 minutes. I will wait for you transformed in the storage. Knock before you enter to make sure I turn my back to you and transform only once you are inside.

Marinette turned her phone to Tikki who sighed and nodded. She will send the message later.

Marinette took the Bee comb and the Fox pendant in her pocket and went for the storage. If the corridor is not busy with people waiting in queue for the bathroom, she will message Chat to meet her, but she wanted a quick talk with Trixx and Pollen.

The bathroom was not busy, there was nobody in the corridor. She locked herself in the storage and put on the comb and the pendant. Then she sent the message she prepared earlier to Chat.

Adrien played a game on his phone when he hard Marinette moved in her bed and then he heard the compartment door open and close.

"Camembert?" a voice from his shirt spoke. Adrien sighed and reached for a bag that hung from the edge of his bed. He retrieved a cheese triangle and gave it to Plagg with no words. Then he patted the head of the little cat god. The little kwami swallowed the cheese in one bite and stared at Adrien. He stopped the game and checked for messages from his lady. He returned to the game, lost and put down his phone.

"Having fun with pigtails these days?" Plagg teased, but Adrien gave no response. Plagg frowned.

"What is bothering you, kid?" Plagg asked quietly.

"Yeah, Marinette is funny." Adrien whispered the answer to the first question and smiled gently. One of the adults below snored a bit louder than usual. "I'm so happy. It is so nice. I met new people." Adrien sighed.

Plagg let him be. Adrien tasted normal life only in school so far. This journey has exposed him to other people outside school and his father's company. He saw how Marinette's parents interacted with their daughter. They treated him just the same as they treated their daughter. Her relatives accepted him really quickly. There were four adults sleeping in this compartment right now and at least two of them were snoring as if they were competing who would be louder and it never occurred to him to complain about the situation. The last two nights were in complete contrast to sleeping in his vast, empty and silent room.

His phone chimed. He checked the message, glanced towards Marinette's empty bed and sneaked out of the compartment.

"Hello Marinette" Pollen and Trixx greeted as soon as they appeared from the comb and the pendant.

"Are we on our way?" Pollen asked zooming around.

"Is this how a caravan looks like today?" Trixx asked pouncing on the objects in the storage.

"Yes. Please do not phase through the walls. It is crowded." Marinette pleaded as Tikki flew out from her purse to meet the two kwami.

"Are you going to look for the cursed stone?" Trixx pounced on Marinette's shoulder.

"She will not look for it, it will reveal itself to her." Pollen raised her nose, annoyed she had to repeat everything.

"Stop with the cursed stone." Tikki scolded, but then the little red goddess continued in her most cheerful tone. "We visited the Forbidden City and the temples in Beijing." Marinette sighed. Not Beijing again, that was so not the reason to summon Pollen and Trixx.

"Actually, I know I should not enter the temple while not transformed because nobody knows where it is and it should affect only those who are transformed." Marinette spoke quickly. "What is not clear to me is how will I defend the temple if I can't transform." They should know considering how many warrior wielders they had.

"We cant tell you that, Marinette." Trixx sighed.

"There are things we kwami do not know." Pollen spoke quietly as if defeated.

"Like the recipe for a potion that would enhance our powers." Tikki added.

She took out the food for Pollen and Trixx. They ate and asked questions to Tikki about two different temples and argued which one was more important and who of their wielders from the different temples was more important and … Marinette rolled her eyes.

She realized there is only one way to stop them questioning Tikki and transformed into Ladybug. Pollen and Trixx continued talking about their warrior hosts which was more entertaining and useful. She wished she had brought her notebook.

Adrien knocked the door to the storage in few minutes.

"Okay, he is early." Ladybug muttered to herself and turned her back. "Come in." she said.

"Good evening My Lady" he greeted as he entered and closed the door behind him. "Plagg, claws out." A flash of green light lit up the small storage room.

"Good evening Chaton" she replied. There was almost no space between them as she turned around.

Trixx and Pollen flew from behind Marinette on her shoulders.

"I thought you might like to meet them yourself." Ladybug whispered checking his face. It was dark and she knew rather well that he could see her much better than she could see him.

"I did not want to bring more than two in here." Ladybug waved her hand as much as she could to explain what she meant.

Chat grinned and she could see pure joy in his eyes.

"I can't believe we are here, Bug." he raised his claws to the sides of her shoulders.

"Hi Chat Noir, I am Trixx" the little fox kwami greeted.

"Hi Chat Noir, nice to see you again." Pollen added from another shoulder.

"Hi Trixx and Pollen" Chat looked to her shoulders and then back to Ladybugs face. They were so close, he could hear her breathing over the noise of the train. He could feel her breath on his neck as she raised her face towards him.

Her bangs moved with every breath he exhaled. They were so close. He was pleased. She was a bit annoyed.

"Chat, what I learned so far is that there is a cursed stone in the temple. It affects only those who are transformed and nobody knows where it is. Also, if anyone spots us transformed on the way, it would soon be on the social media." She recited quickly and quietly.

"So we have to travel to the temple and enter it as ourselves." Chat finished for her. His excitement bubbled inside. Was he about to meet the civilian her?

"There are magical stones in the temple and we should protect it, somehow. And there are things kwami do not know and we will have to learn there." She lowered her face as a sign she was finished.

"Huh." Chat was processing the information. "How do we do that without revealing ourselves?"

"I don't know. We will have to find a way." Ladybug shrugged and the two kwami slowly floated back onto her shoulders while Chat kept holding her.

"And I was so happy to come here and tell you that I have the way to reach the temple from Lhasa." Chat Noir grinned. "I could send you the link to fill in but it is in Chinese and I do not know if you would know how to do it so I could help you with that now. If you want."

"Chat I" Ladybug sighed.

"Identities, I know. You can invent a name." Chat smiled apologetically.

"It is not that, thank you Chat, I already did that, and wanted to tell you the same." Ladybug laughed breathlessly. "It is okay. I am glad you are doing this well."

Chat rubbed her arms from elbows to shoulders.

"We could tell you about the cursed stone." Trixx offered with a lot of enthusiasm in her voice, Ladybug felt the little fox pouncing on her shoulder. "If you tell us about Beijing."

"There are several kwami who doubt the stone exists." Ladybug smiled "But we should be careful."

"Oh it is real." Trixx insisted.

"Maybe it is as real as your illusions. It exists as long as we believe in it." Pollen teased.

"Now you sound like Xuppu and Kaalki." Trixx pouted.

The two kwami continued to banter about the stone and then switched back to talk about Beijing.

"Oh, well. How are you Chat?" Ladybug sighed and asked Chat cheerfully.

"I am great. The flight was awesome." Chat stopped for a moment as he remembered how he used Marinette as a teddy bear on the flight. He swallowed and continued to talk. "I have excellent company, we talk and play games and stuff."

Ladybug looked at him with sad eyes. Chat was so excited, so thrilled about having nice company who played games with him. He reminded her of Adrien and his excitement the whole day. The boy practically pounced where he was sitting on the bed the whole afternoon.

"Except, I have excellent company and we play games and it is not easy to escape and have a meeting like this." Chat finished and shrugged.

"It is also very crowded and busy with people all day." Ladybug added.

"Yeah, people stand in line for the bathroom." Chat whispered.

"I propose we send each other messages and meet only if it is absolutely needed." Ladybug was back to business and looking up straight into his face.

"That is fine, Bug." Chat looked at her with his lovesick expression.

Finally they kept silent, amused by the talk between Trixx and Pollen. The two kwami were arguing about two female monks who wielded their miraculous in the same battle.

"Are they always like this?" Chat asked.

"Oh, this is just fine, they can be much worse." Ladybug smirked.

"Is this information of any use?" Chat smiled as the kwami discussed the middle age war tactics. The conversation sounded like something her read from Sun Tzu.

"It could be, you never know. I usually make notes. It helps with the history tests." Ladybug shrugged.

They stood there in silence and then Chat heard steps coming along the corridor and stiffened. Ladybug felt a change in his posture and listened intently but she heard the heavy steps just in front of the door. The door to one of the bathrooms opened and closed.

"We should go." Ladybug whispered.

"Yeah" Chat sighed heavily.

They both stood there for a moment.

"Okay, I will turn around so you can de-trasform here. I will wait for two minutes before I get out. Okay?" she whispered.

"Okay" Chat whispered and nodded in return.

Ladybug turned around and waited.

"Claws in" Chat Noir whispered and the compartment was filled with green light for a moment while he transformed into Adrien. "Good nigh Ladybug" Adrien greeted and got out closing the door behind him carefully. She de-transformed and waited in silence while the three kwami chatted quietly. She waited for full three minutes before she got out of the bathroom and went to her compartment.


	13. Chapter 13 - Calling Home

take care of your blood sugar levels

Calling home

Adrien returned to the compartment and noticed Marinette's bed was still empty. He wandered where she had been and started to worry. She was a young teenage girl in a foreign country on a train in the middle of the night and the four snoring adults were not aware she was not safe in her bed. And he might have watched too many films.

"Plagg" Adrien whispered. "Marinette left long time ago. Should I search for her?"

Plagg looked at Adrien with his green eyes and sighed. The little black cat-like god knew very well that Marinette was Ladybug and Adrien had just talked to her. Plagg rolled his eyes and smiled mischievously.

"I have a feeling she will enter the compartment quite soon." Plagg took an air of prophecy.

"Plagg" Adrien rolled his eyes.

Marinette was in the corridor standing in front of the compartment and unlocked her phone to read the entrance code, but when she was about to type it in, three kwami floated into her face.

"Ugh, right. Thank you Trixx and Pollen" she said her greetings, the two kwami nuzzled her cheeks and she took the comb out from her hair and the pendant from her neck and stored them into her purse. The two kwami disappeared in the jewels while Tikki floated back into her purse. Then she finally typed the number and entered the compartment.

She entered the compartment as quietly as she could and closed the door behind her. She was certain her uncle and father snored louder than any noise she could have made. But when she looked up she faced Adrien fully awake and staring at her. She smiled sheepishly and slowly climbed up to her bed. She was careful not to wake up any of the adults sleeping on the lower levels.

"Hi" he greeted her quietly when she climbed up and turned around. She was wearing her usual pyjama. The same pyjama she wore the day they escaped his fans to go to the cinema.

"Hi" she greeted shyly and settled on her bed. He was still staring at her.

"Um, I was worried about you. You have been away for some time." Adrien whispered.

Marinette was not aware he even noticed when she left. She blushed holding the phone in her hand. What could she possibly tell him.

"I, um, the bathroom was taken so I searched for another one in a different part of the train and I um" Marinette rambled.

"You got lost? On a train? In the middle of the night?" Adrien whispered incredulously.

Marinette lowered her shoulders forward, she felt guilty for making him worry.

"It was not that bad. All compartments look alike." she shrugged and smiled hoping to relieve him from his worries.

At that moment, someone below them snored louder than usual, the noise that followed was indescribable. The two teens looked at each other and laughed silently. Then a sound like a loud snort reached them from below. They were clutching their stomachs in laughter and cried their eyes out but struggled to stay silent.

"You are not sleepy?" Adrien asked her. She looked tired. Her eyes looked tired for more than two weeks now.

Marinette waved her head.

"Me neither." he smiled gently. "So many nice things have happened to me." A loud snore, louder than he spoke, interrupted him. Marinette put her hands over her face not to laugh.

"You mean like sleeping in a mill?" she asked quietly once she was able to speak and control her voice.

"Yeah, that too, actually." Adrien smiled so genuinely that Marinette believed him. "The whole way, in the car, on the plane, in the city, with your family, and on the train with everyone. Nobody ever scolded me for acting inappropriate or not up to their standards."

"But you never act inappropriate." Marinette smiled. He was so perfect, how could anyone ever scold him for his behaviour? His manners, his smile, his hair, everything was perfect to her. She just wanted to tell him that so much. Instead, she produced a few mumbles and then stopped trying to speak. She looked to the side in shame and blushed.

"Marinette, what I did to you on the plane, my father would never allow that." he was worried that someone might have taken a photo of him and put it on the social media tagging him. But Alya sent no warnings and there were no urgent phone calls from Nathalie. There were actually no calls from Nathalie. Only several brief messages and he replied to all of them.

Marinette took in a deep breath. This was injustice and she was there to fix it. She was on a mission to save her crush from such suffering and nothing in the world, not even her own crush, is going to prevent her. She looked at the boy straight in his eyes.

"Adrien, you did nothing wrong. If you did, I would have told you and my parents would have interfered." and that was it. She did it. She has spoken. Victory.

"And you, you said nothing, you did not mind at all?" Adrien asked shyly.

Marinette waved her head but she also blushed remembering just how they woke up.

Adrien was happy the see the colour in her cheeks.

"Hey, um, what is the time in Paris?" he asked.

"I think about six in the afternoon." Marinette checked her phone.

"Let's call Nino and Alya." Adrien waved his phone. "The network signal is excellent and I guess most of the passengers are sleeping so the connection might be good for a video call. What do you think?"

Marinette nodded eagerly.

"Okay, come over here." he said while he opened the application on the phone using the thumb of the same hand he held his phone with and then he patted his bed next to him.

Marinette stared at the spot.

Adrien was picking on his phone. He patted the spot again.

Marinette stared at the spot, motionless.

Adrien got the phone ready and pressed the invitation for the video call.

"Come on" he waved his head.

Marinette finally took in a first breath.

Adrien was waiting for the connection and looked at her.

"okay" she breathed. 'It is a one small step for a woman, but one giant leap for Marinette' passed through her brain while she was crossing the small gap between the two beds. At one point she wiggled a bit and Adrien did not hesitate one moment to wrap his hands around her waist and pull her onto his bed. The next moment she was sitting next to him. Her heart was pounding as if she just finished running 400 meters at the Olympics. With hurdles.

Adrien established a connection.

"Hey Nino" he greeted and waved his hand. Marinette raised her hand and moved it a bit.

"Hey dudes" Nino waved back "hey Alya, Marinette is there with him." Nino called to the side of the screen. Alya got next to Nino in no time.

"Marinette, Adrien, hi!" she greeted enthusiastically.

"What is the time there?" Nino asked.

"About midnight." Adrien answered. He held the phone in his right arm and his left one was wrapped around Marinette. Marinette wrapped her arms around her knees and just looked at the screen. She could see how Alya stared at the picture on the screen taking in every detail.

"Where are you?" Nino asked. Alya was almost screaming as her brain was processing what she saw.

"In China." Adrien winked to the screen.

"Dude" Nino pulled a face.

"On a train." Adrien looked up and about as if he was trying to determine himself.

Nino changed his expression. Alya was almost pouncing on his back by now.

"To Lhasa." Adrien nodded as if he just remembered.

Nino and Alya stared at the screen.

"Okay, but where, what is that place where you sit?" Alya squinted her eyes as she spoke.

There was only small night light switched on above his bed. Adrien raised the phone to the ceiling and tilted it down a little bit towards them.

"We are on my bed." Adrien smirked.

Alya fell off Nino and disappeared from the screen.

"Dude" Nino grinned.

Then Adrien tilted the phone towards the gap and then he rotated it towards Marinette's bed.

"And that is her bed over there." Adrien rotated the phone back to them.

Nino was adjusting his hat. Alya was nowhere to be seen.

"This is the top level of three level bunk beds in a tiny compartment." Adrien grinned. He was so proud he was there.

"And we are sharing it with Marinette's parents, her uncle and my bodyguard." he smiled to Nino who was picking up something heavy from the floor. Oh, it was Alya.

"Um, could you briefly repeat that for Alya, please?" Nino pleaded holding Alya up.

So Adrien repeated.

Alya was blinking onto the screen.

Adrien lowered the hand with which he was holding the phone and pulled Marinette even closer.

"Hi Alya! Hi Nino!" Marinette waved her hand again.

Alya was blinking.

"This is considerably different to my room in the Agreste mansion, isn't it?" Adrien winked at Nino.

"Dude" Nino waved his head "it is definitely different."

"Hey, hear this." Adrien lowered the phone to the gap.

"What is that noise, dude?" Nino asked.

"Snoring." Adrien whispered snickering.

Marinette rolled her eyes at Adrien.

Alya gaped.

"You two look like you are having fun." Nino said smiling.

"Oh, you have no idea." Adrien replied with a smirk.

Alya disappeared in the general direction of the floor. Nino followed her with his eyes, waved his head and looked back to his phone.

"We met Marinette's relatives, the six of them are sleeping in the other compartment. We are travelling together to Lhasa. The two of her cousins are taking us on an excursion." Adrien rambled squeezing Marinette closer and closer.

Marinette looked at Adrien then back to the screen.

"Um, we had fun in Beijing yesterday, I sent Alya few pictures last night." Marinette added.

They could hear Alya yelled something from the floor but did not understand what.

"She is complaining that Adrien sent much better pictures to me." Nino smirked.

Marinette looked at Adrien who wiggled his eyebrows to the screen and then back at Nino and shrugged.

"Thank you Nino, I guess the camera on this phone finally proved worth of whatever my father paid for it." Adrien smirked.

"It was not the camera." Alya pushed her face into the phone. Nino raised the phone up and pulled Alya closer to him and away from the screen.

"How is Paris?" Adrien asked.

"Paris is fine, no akumas so Alya is a bit jittery." Nino laughed.

"I am bored." Alya dragged her fingertips from her eyes down her face to her chin.

"We are babysitting." Nino suddenly turned the phone around and walked to the door of Alya's room and showed them her living room where Ella and Etta were trying to pounce on Chris.

He closed the door.

"Great" Marinette whispered and raised her thumb up. Adrien nodded to Nino.

"Listen guy, we should probably stop before we wake up someone." Adrien spoke quietly.

"Okay, dudes, it was nice to hear you." Nino greeted.

They all waved to each other and quit the video call.

Then Adrien dropped the phone on his bed and wrapped his other arm around Marinette. He took in a deep breath and exhaled in satisfaction. He pulled her closer so her head rested on his shoulder.

"Is this okay?" he whispered.

She nodded.

He smiled, leaned his head over hers and closed his eyes.


	14. Chapter 14 - Trekking Equipment

Note: I was growing up in a communist regime. The 'sleeping bag' incident happened to me more than once! And yes, the two of them are seeking comfort in each other from the fear of the unknown.

Trekking equipment

The next morning breakfast preparations were almost a routine. Well, almost.

Adrien woke up first and nudged Marinette awake. They fell asleep on his bed. Marinette was probably still in her dream world, definitely not fully awake when he helped her go to her own bed before the adults woke up and noticed. He would not like to find out how would Tom react upon finding his daughter in a boy's bed.

The adults got up and after the usual morning routines, they sent teenagers to the bathroom to change for breakfast. They returned to a full compartment with Ling and Ye waiting on the top level of the bunk beds.

"So, you are going on an excursion to visit the new temple." Tom grinned as he passed the food to the kids.

"Do you have any ideas what you need to get there?" Sabine smiled.

"Um?" was Marinette's early morning answer to most questions so this was not really an exception.

"Don't worry aunt Sabine and uncle Tom, we will get the equipment in Lhasa. There is a shop that rents everything." Ling explained and showed a long list she had on her phone.

"It is an excellent trekking equipment shop and it is stupid to buy it and carry home where you do not need it." Ye added.

"Great." Adrien exclaimed with a wide smile.

"So I guess you have everything covered, then, Ling?" Sabine asked the older girl and she nodded.

"Don't worry aunt Sabine, we will take care of them." Ye replied.

"Then you give us no choice." Tom looked at Adrien's bodyguard "We will have to let you go."

The rest of the breakfast they spent in planning the rest of the day. Adrien's bodyguard has chosen to stay in the same accommodation with Sabine and Tom and other adults which was a small hotel far from the main sights. They packed their things and were just about ready when the train finally arrived to Lhasa.

They first left their luggage at the mini hotel. It was a large house and the owner lived in it. The adults decided to stay and settle and make some lunch in the kitchen. The teenagers were practically out of the door before they even entered.

Adrien put a black cap on his head and the hood from his hoodie.

"We will take our equipment first." Ling was determined with her list opened on her phone.

"Can we use your list?" Marinette asked cautiously. She was preparing herself by talking to the kwami who did not mention anything about tents and sleeping bags. Well, except Trixx, she definitely talked about that.

"Of course!" the girl answered proudly. I have sent it to you this morning.

Marinette checked her phone and opened the list. It was written in Chinese.

"Don't worry, I will help you." Adrien smiled when he saw her puzzled face. She turned the screen towards him. "And I can help you with that too." He scrunched his eyebrows. His Chinese lessons were more about the culture and etiquette, not about trekking equipment. Some signs he did not recognize.

"Can you read it?" Ye asked with mischievous glint in his eyes.

"Um, yeah, most of it?" Adrien smiled.

Ling and Ye laughed watching Adrien.

"Okay, if we want this to work, at least one of you should know what is written there." Ling smiled.

"Let me have some fun." Ye winked.

"What is this?" Ye pointed at one sign.

"It looks like a sign for weapon that we call the Greek fire in Europe." Adrien smiled expecting he is wrong.

"It probably is, I am not an expert in Sun Tzu." Ye winked. "But please do not ask for a Greek fire, it is a small flame cooker and we can share one, just take additional gas chambers, okay?"

Adrien and Marinette laughed.

They walked to the shop laughing at Adrien's interpretation of modern signs that was related to classical texts.

"Well, I am glad my Chinese teaching was useful. I might be able to equip the whole ancient armada using this list." He joked. Marinette, Ling and Ye pretended to be warriors and chased him down the street. They reached a storage in the back street.

"This is where we get our equipment from." Ling said and stepped in with confidence, the other three followed.

The queue was long, but it moved rather quickly. Although the building itself and the interior did not look promising, they were pleasantly surprised. They had efficient system with barcodes and the four of them quickly had their turn.

"We booked our equipment last week." Ye explained. "Ling made me plan everything." They got their stuff in one go.

Then it was turn for Adrien and Marinette to get their equipment. The attendant typed in the numbers they were assigned for the excursion in the computer and she was ready. Adrien managed not to get a flame thrower nor the Greek fire, but he did get a small gas container and a standard dry food package. He dared asking for some cheese and even got some. Then he managed to get water cleaning pills in place of the magic potion. When he asked for clothes the attendant waved her head.

"The warm wear and the shoes are all taken. You should go to the shop." the attendant answered briefly.

Then Adrien asked for two sleeping bags and the thin mat to go underneath. The attendant waved her head while typing in her computer and muttered something under her breath.

"Ah, you are brother and sister." she smiled. She disappeared and brought back a single sleeping bag and a single rolled mat. The sleeping bag was much larger than those Ye and Ling got. The mat roll was also twice as long.

"You can share this bag." The woman gave the sleeping bag to Marinette and continued her conversation with Adrien.

Marinette took the mat in her hands and hugged the sleeping bag hiding her blushing face.

"You know, I think she understands Chinese pretty well." Ling spoke quietly to Ye. Both of them snickered. Then they started whispering quickly between themselves.

They managed to get rubber trousers and jackets to wear over their clothes to protect them from the wet weather. The attendant never asked them for their preference, she eyed them to guess their size and brought one back black rubber suit for Adrien and one red rubber suit for Marinette.

When there was time to pay, Marinette somehow pulled out her card from her pocket and offered it before Adrien even pulled out his wallet. But the attendant waved her head.

"Cash only" the attendant smiled.

Adrien paid for the rent of the equipment as well as the insurance for the equipment and left a deposit for it.

"Let's leave all this back in the hotel and then go to the shop." Ye proposed while he carried his sleeping bag. Marinette was stuffing all items into a large backpack (one, because they are brother and sister and can share, but Marinette brought her own from Paris) avoiding to look into anyone's eyes. When she was finished and closed the mostly empty backpack, Adrien grabbed it and put it on his back smiling gently at her.

She took the mat and waved it at him. She was supposed to fasten it on the top of the backpack so he had to turn around. He even bent his knees to make it easier for her. She took the sleeping bag and they walked out from the storage. She has not spoken since they got one single sleeping bag.

"Marinette" Adrien whispered. "Is this okay?" he pointed to the sleeping bag she carried in her arms. The girl stared in front of her and walked a few steps more before mumbling something.

"I can buy another one in the shop, don't worry." Adrien whispered.

Marinette stared in front of her and walked further.

"Marinette, please." Adrien extended his arm to grab her shoulder. She stopped and lowered the sleeping bag.

"How would we carry two of these?" she asked finally collecting courage to speak. The pitch of her voice was a bit higher than usual and she was completely red in the face. But she formed a completely legit question.

"She is right." Ling intervened. You will get more stuff and food. You have to carry it all after we leave the bus and the air up here is thinner than what you are used to.

"She is out of breath as we speak. Look how red she is." Ye added. Ling showed him with her elbow. She had just explained to him in the storage that Marinette likes Adrien and the boy is completely oblivious.

"Okay then" Adrien smirked his signature Chat Noir smirk and they continued towards the hotel.

They ate there a quick meal of rice before leaving for the shop.

Adrien took a turn towards a large shop they passed by but Ye quickly pulled him in the opposite direction.

"That one is for the rich tourists." Ye explained his action.

Marinette burst laughing and looked Adrien in the eyes for the first time.

"That is what he is." She said in Chinese.

The three other teens applauded and bowed.

"Okay, you may work on your accent." Ling raised her hands.

They went to the shop and copied what Ling was doing. When Adrien took the same package of thick socks, Ye laughed and took the socks out from Adrien's basket and gave him another pack of socks.

"Those were the girl's socks." Ye winked. Adrien blushed.

They got rice and more dried food in bags, energy bars and then they were finished with the items on the list.

"You two might look for something warmer to wear over there." Ling pointed with her finger. "The two of us will stand in line with your baskets."

Marinette wandered the lines and took some insulation underwear (more like a whole body tight suit in two pieces). Adrien followed her examples but took a different turn. There were two fleece onesies hanging abandoned and alone. One black and one red. He could not resist. He took them both. He wandered if Ladybug got her equipment and if she was okay.

When he got to the line Marinette was standing with Ling in front of Ye. There were no people behind them yet. Marinette was typing on the phone. Adrien smiled. She probably had many messages from Alya.

When Marinette returned to Ling, the girl was already on the phone, so she took out her phone. The first thing was to message Chat.

Bug: got my stuff to travel to the temple. You? Need help?

Bug: also, we should not transform!

Bug: and there might be no phone signal on the way.

Then she took a deep breath and opened the other messages. Alya sent a lot of them last night, but most of them were just random letters. There were several 'girl?' and 'what?' messages and then silence. She typed a quick reply 'hi from Lhasa, I'm good' and clicked on send. She decided to reply to other messages once she is on the hotel Wi-Fi.

Adrien took out his phone since that seemed what everyone else was doing. He smiled, he got messages from Ladybug.

Cat: fully equipped with a bed heater.

Cat: no transform, no phone signal? How do we talk?

As soon as Adrien sent the second message he noticed Plagg was peaking at him from his shirt.

"Will there be any space for me in that sleeping bag?" the little black god teased.

Adrien blushed. He could not argue with Plagg here. Fortunately everyone was checking their phones.

"Perhaps I should find Ladybug and sleep in her sleeping bag?" Plagg teased further satisfied with the double meaning of his words.

Cat: I have something for you

Bug: really thank you Chat but I have all that I could carry

Adrien patted the shirt and covered Plagg.

They left the things they bought in the hotel and went to visit the large temple in Lhasa together with the adults. Marinette has promised Tikki they would visit, after all.


	15. Chapter 15 - Almost There

Note: you might have noticed, nobody actually stops and thinks 'What am I doing here? What is actually going on here?' Also, Adrien is painfully oblivious in the next few chapters, but he is depicted in a similar way in Troublemaker and Pupeteer 2.

Almost there

That evening the group enjoyed their common dinner in the hotel. It was a small hotel and the owner let Marinette's uncle prepare the dinner. The kids packed their backpacks and Adrien realized he had to leave most of his clothes and his small suitcase with his bodyguard. He felt elated with leaving his designer clothes behind. As if he removed weight off his shoulders and a bandage around his chest that prevented him from breathing with his lungs full.

Marinette quickly packed her things into her smaller backpack leaving a lot of space for Adrien in the large one they rented. She changed into her pyjamas. Then she considered what to do with the miracle box. It was wrapped in a cloth bag in the middle of her clothing so she decided that was the way for it to go. But first, she decided to take a few kwami for a walk. She took the choker for the Dragon miraculous, the glasses for the Horse miraculous and the Mouse miraculous. The noises from the dinner table reached her easily so she knew they had to stay silent. She sneaked behind a curtain that divided the room in two and put on the jewels.

Mullo, Kaalki and Longg all greeted Marinette quietly. She was holding her notebook and offered them food. The room was dark, even darker behind the thick red curtain and it was not possible to read so she sighed in disappointment and put the notebook back in the box.

"You are missing your meal." Longg stated eating the food.

"I ate some dinner and left to pack." Marinette whispered.

"Are we close to the temple now?" Mullo asked eagerly.

Marinette shushed the mouse kwami and whispered "Closer than the last time we spoke." she smiled and the mouse kwami nodded in understanding.

"Almost there." Marinette smiled to herself.

The horse kwami finished the food and floated around peeking through the holes in the curtain.

"Kaalki, what are you doing? You will be seen." Tikki scolded.

"I am just being curious." The little kwami bowed his head in shame.

"It is okay to be curious." Marinette petted the little floating horse and it floated around her happily. She sighed.

"What is bothering you?" Longg asked and floated close to her face.

"Um, it is just, I still have so many questions and I do not know where to start." the girl sighed. The truth was she was insecure. She knew deep down that Master Fu was not a guardian when he left and anyone in the temple can claim the miraculous box back as well as the earrings she wore. But who would defend Paris from Hawk Moth then?

"Perhaps we should just play a little." Mullo proposed.

"You know, have fun." Kaalki zoomed quickly around her head.

Marinette laughed quietly.

"I know, I would like that too." she sighed dreamily. She had fun the whole day, although she was preparing for further travel, the action took her attention away from permanent overthinking and raising concern. Each task was fun, even when it mortified her, like the shared sleeping bag. She was hoping beyond hope that Ling would give up her sleeping bag to Adrien and share the double one with Marinette, but the older girl refused.

She had small smile on her face and a dreamy look in her eyes.

"Remember, the monks in the temple have not seen a miraculous holder in many years." Longg explained.

"You are knew to them as much as they are new to you." Mullo was nodding her little head while she spoke.

"Perhaps it will be bigger shock for them than it would be for you." Kaalki added.

But the girl was in her own thoughts.

"What is bothering you?" Longg asked in determined voice to solve any problem.

"How will I speak with them?" Marinette whispered "I can barely speak any Chinese."

"Do not worry about that, Marinette." Mullo answered "There is a way."

"Do you really think Hawk Moth will try to attack the temple or steal something from there?" the girl asked worriedly. "What would he go for?"

"He can take by force only those things of which he knows." Longg spoke in the tone of ancient wisdom.

"He can create akuma, he might not do it himself." Marinette warned.

"Each power can be used to do something good or something evil." Kaalki nodded.

"Anything can be used to do something good." Mullo added.

"And you always find a way Marinette." Tikki chirped.

All three kwami snuggled around Marinette and she curled herself on the carpet. Few breaths later, she was asleep.

Adrien entered the room carrying the few belongings he intended to put into the backpack. The backpack stood in the middle of the room and he dropped few small bags in it. He was about to leave when his bare foot kicked something hard wrapped in a cloth bag. His small toe hurt and he sat down to let it pass rubbing his foot.

"Are you hurt, kid?" Plagg floated out and asked him.

"Mostly my pride." He poked the offending item with his good foot and wandered what was inside the box. Adrien was curious to unwrap the cloth bag and open it to see what is inside. He looked at the bag and rubbed his toes. Plagg phased partially into the bag and then phased out. The little black cat had its back turned towards Adrien. Otherwise, Adrien would not hesitate to open the bag. Plagg was pleasantly surprised, then he had a mischievous smirk and then he put on a face of pure innocence and floated straight into Adrien's face.

"What is it?" Adrien asked curiously.

"Nothing." Plagg was an illustration of nonchalance.

"So my little toe hurts because of nothing?" Adrien raised his eyebrows smiling at his kwami.

"It is not cheese." Plagg shrugged.

Adrien laughed.

"Let alone Camembert." Plagg floated around Adrien to the other side.

"I have some cheese for you if you tell me what it is?" Adrien tried to bribe the little cat god.

Plagg put his paws on his ears and phased through the curtain.

Adrien crawled after him pushing the curtain away. And then he saw Marinette from her back lying in the dark corner behind the curtain. She was curled on the floor sleeping on her side. Plagg hovered above her head. Adrien glared at his kwami and tried in vain to swat the little black cat away from the sleeping girl.

Adrien did not dare to call him, nor to whisper his name and the tiny floating cheese terminator hopped up and down floating in the air just beyond his reach. The only good thing was that the tiny creature was silent.

Adrien sat and looked at Marinette curled up on the carpet. She looked so small. It was dark behind the curtain her hair covered her face and neck. He wanted to move her hair away, but he did not want to wake her up. It did not look very comfortable at a first glance, but she was sleeping so peacefully. She was probably cold.

Adrien turned around. He saw a blanket, he lied behind Marinette and covered them both with the blanket. His hand went over her body and found her hand. She was cold. Adrien decided that he was doing this only to keep her warm and closed his eyes. His mind wandered to Ladybug. How was she? What was she doing right now? She was probably planning. Yes, that was his lady, she was planning. What was his plan? Throw himself into it and hope for the best? His kwami was the embodiment of bad luck. Well, whatever awaits for him in the temple, he only hopes he does not lose his lady nor his kwami. Nor Marinette.

A little black cat floated above the two teens with the paws on his hips with an expression of pure disbelief. Plagg was still shaking his head with his eyes wide when Adrien started breathing evenly and his body relaxed, a clear sign the boy was asleep.

"Plagg" three cheerful voices and a scolding one could be heard as the four kwami phase up through the blanket.

The five kwami looked down at the two sleeping teens.

"Is that Chat Noir" Longg asked.

Plagg and Tikki confirmed both.

"And she is Ladybug and now a new guardian." Plagg whispered softly.

"Do they know?" Kaalki asked.

"No" Tikki and Plagg both waved their heads.

"My kid is oblivious." Plagg drew and exasperated sigh from himself waving his head.

"Sometimes it is for the best." Tikki consoled him. "They can't reveal their identities to each other."

"Yet?" Longg asked.

"We'll see." Tikki nodded her head knowingly.

"But, they are in love." Mullo whispered.

"Or almost there." Kaalki zoomed around their heads.

"It's complicated." Both Tikki and Plagg answered at the same time.

"Would a reveal help?" Kaalki was hopping in the air his face showing mischief on his mind and his body releasing the air of impatience.

"It is not our task to interfere." Tikki warned.

"I do not want to be in the middle of that mushy stuff." Plagg crossed his arms.

Kaalki made few circles in the air instead rolling his eyes like the other two kwami.

"She might be wearing your miracoulous at this moment but she is not your wielder." Tikki warned.

"Yeah, Sugarcube, why did you get company to hang out in the evening while all I got is this lovesick oblivious dork?" Plagg nodded his head to make a point.

"Stop calling me that" Tikki protested while the other three kwami snickered.

The door to the little room opened again.

"Knock Knock" Ye said.

"Are we interrupting something." Ling asked laughing.

The five kwami phased through the blanket.

Both Adrien and Marinette were startled in their sleep.

Marinette lied on her right side with her face in the palm of her right hand. The moment she woke up she felt something on her nose and her hand snatched to object away.

Glasses.

Then she remembered taking kwami for a walk and felt the choker around her neck. She quickly removed the additional miraculous and held all three in her right hand.

Then she felt someone move behind her back.

"Hey" Adrien whispered and moved his left hand that was draped over her. "You fell asleep on the floor. You were freezing."

Then the curtain moved abruptly.

"Hey you two, you will freeze to death sleeping on the floor like that. It is time to test your sleeping bag." Ling chided the two sleeping teens.

Marinette had only one thought.

Where is the box?

She raised her head and turned around hiding her right hand below the blanket. There it was, her cloth bag wrapped around the miracle box. Now she only has to store the miraculous inside and hide the box in the backpack.

"Come on, let's occupy some space." Ye grinned grabbing his sleeping bag.

"You always take the best spot." Ling complained as she took her own sleeping bag.

Adrien crawled for their sleeping bag.

Marinette bolted for the box.

While the three negotiated how to arrange the three sleeping bags in the tiny room cramped with luggage, Marinette hid the bag with the box behind a backpack and put the miraculous inside. Then she wrapped the box and stuffed it in her small backpack together with the diary on top.

When she was finished, she had to hop over Ling's legs to reach the space they left her. Marinette collapsed next to Adrien too stressed and too tired to be flustered, much.

She was stressed because she was almost revealed and tired and ready to fall asleep. She felt where Tikki hid in her pyjama and hoped the tiny red god did not produce a visible bump on her belly. Adrien covered them and zipped the sleeping bag carefully. When he was finally satisfied with what he's done he turned to Marinette.

"What do you think?" he asked proudly.

And found the girl was already fast asleep.

He smiled and put his hand around her. His mission was to protect Ladybug. His instinct was pushing him to protect this girl too.

The two older teens were smiling to themselves, they looked at each other.

"We are almost there." they whispered and bumped their fists just like Adrien was showing them to do it.


	16. Chapter 16 - On the Road Again

On the road again

It was dark when the alarm rang. The air in the room was cold. The sleeping bag provided only so much insulation from the cold coming from the floor, the walls and the air itself. Each breath produced a small foggy cloud, but it was too dark to see them until Ling switched her mobile phone light. Then she switched on the dim light in the room.

Ye was rolling in his bag next to her almost tripping her as he rolled into her feet. He rolled back and forth "Finally some space" he teased, his voice hoarse. Ling kicked him gently with her foot.

"Come on, I bet our mothers are already in the kitchen." Ling nudged him with her foot. "I am taking the opportunity to enjoy the normal toilet."

"How have our little love birds sleep last night." Ye said jokingly and turning around.

"Oh leave them be." Ling scolded while she wrapped her sleeping bag.

Adrien scrunched his eyes when the room light went on. He felt Marinette pulled her head below the cover of the sleeping bag and smashed her face into his chest. He felt her breath on his chest. He moved his hand towards her shoulders and felt she was cold. Her shoulders were bare because she wore her usual pyjama from home. He rubbed his hands over her shoulders and back to warm her and to wake her up. She merely snuggled closer into his warmth.

Ling and Ye wrapped their bags and took their clothes.

"I will just put these over my pyjama." Ling said and put on her set of clothes quickly, then she opened the door and went out closing the door carefully.

Ye looked at the two teens and pulled the curtain.

"You two can have a minute of privacy." he teased while he changed. He was finished quickly and pulled the curtain back.

"Kids" Ye smiled. "You have to get up." Ye sang song in awful hoarse voice. "You will miss the bus. We are leaving for the temple today." he continued his teasing by singing his wake up call.

Adrien blinked his eyes open and squinted at Ye as soon as he removed the curtain. He smirked at the older boy as soon as he started singing his wake up call. He was considering sitting up but without removing the cover from Marinette, which was impossible. And then Ye mentioned the bus. Marinette stiffened and opened her eyes. Then Ye mentioned the temple. Marinette was on her feet.

The next moment she squeaked and hugged her shoulders.

"It is cold." she complained in her hoarse voice.

"You can put your clothes over your pyjamas. That is what Ling did." Ye said laughing. "I think I am wearing more underwear than all the clothes you are wearing right now."

Marinette was too cold to blush and too sleepy to be mortified. She took a few steps to her pile of clothes and just put them on. Even the fact that two boys watched her and laughed did not disturb her. Then she bent over her backpack and shifted a few things inside so that miracle box would sink to the bottom.

In the meantime, Adrien got up to his feet and was getting dressed behind her. By the time she was finished with the backpack he was ready for breakfast. She tied her pigtails while he ran his fingers through his hair. The kids used the shower the night before as they were warned there would be no hot water in the morning. Adrien's hair was going wild, but he already got used to it. He enjoyed not having to style his hair into a perfect look demanded by his father. He did not dislike his hair that way, but not having to do it before he was presentable to the outside world was as if he was set free from a boring chore.

He played with Marinette's pigtails as they were going out from the room. Marinette followed Ye on autopilot. She was not fully awake nor aware of her environment. Tikki was still hiding in her clothes. She was wearing a pink hoodie and warm trousers lined with fleece she bought yesterday but her feet were bare and she curled her toes to minimize the surface and warm up.

They ate the breakfast quickly and took the food that was packed for them to eat on the bus. There were hugs and a few tears as the teens greeted the adults and left. Even Adrien's bodyguard had given him a hug when he saw all the other parents do it.

"Please take care of my little girl." Tom said as he wrapped his arms around the blond boy.

"And remember how big her father is." Sabine threatened teasingly when she gave him a hug.

Adrien put on his black cap to cover his blonde hair and they walked away.

"Ling and Ye, we hold you responsible." one of the adults yelled after them before they returned to the hotel. The kids were getting used to their new trekking shoes under the weight of all the food and equipment they carried.

The buses were old. Several government officials were taking in the data of the passengers and checking if they have proper gear to go into the mountains at all. Marinette felt her heart sink into her gut. What if they would have to provide some documents? Fortunately, the official was more than happy to see their printed confirmations (thank you friendly hotel owner) as well as Adrien's best model smile and was far more interested in their shoes and wet gear.

"New shoes. They all have new shoes. They will all cry before tomorrow evening." the official waved her head.

Adrien let Marinette sit next to a window. The sky outside just started to become a little brighter when the official entered the bus and announced that the bus is full and they will wait for clearance. She was going with this particular bus and everyone was to obey her, the woman announced standing in the middle of the bus. There was no microphone. There was probably no working speaker system on the bus.

There were, however, small windows on the bus and several of them were open giving a mixed blessing of fresh and cold night air. The people in the bus warmed the insides and soon the windows got steamy. The official was called outside and they could hear an argument.

"I am sorry sir, but you can't board this bus." another official started talking not sure what was the argument about.

"I do not want to board your bus." a man's voice could be heard. The tone was harsh and disgusted. Adrien stiffened. It was the voice of his father. They found him. Now Nathalie will board the bus and take him away. He pulled his black cap slightly lower to cover his ears and all of his hair. Then he pulled Marinette into a hug and hid his face in her neck and hair. He felt Plagg scratching him gently on his chest under his clothes. He will not go to the temple. He will fail Ladybug. What if Hawk Moth attacks the temple and he is not there with his lady?

Marinette wiped a small hole in the mist on the window and peeked out. Yes, it was Adrien's father, definitely. And the woman standing next to him was Nathalie. Marinette turned away from the window and wrapped her arms around Adrien. 'Please, oh please, do not take him away now.' Marinette prayed in her head while Tikki patted her belly under her hoodie.

"You do not have the paperwork needed to go hiking outside of Lhasa, sir." the official informed the elegant couple.

"I would like to express my utter displeasure with this treatment. These papers were just fine the last time." Gabriel protested.

A glimmer of hope lit in Adrien's eyes.

"I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience of your displeasure sir." The official sounded a bit sarcastic. "But even with the proper paperwork, you would not be allowed to go to the mountains dressed in the clothes like these." The official motioned to the way the elegant couple was dressed.

"How do you dare?" Gabriel groaned "I have the perfect equipment and all I demand is to rent a vehicle, a driver and a guide to take us to our destination."

"You are not allowed to go anywhere without a special permit. Which you do not have." the official sounded dismissive.

"We can assure you that we will get the proper paperwork." Nathalie could be heard from the outside.

Adrien smiled into Marinette's neck, he was still hiding his face.

"You need proper paperwork and proper hiking gear. And I would indeed recommend you rent a driver with your vehicle. You will be assigned a guide. I would advise you to get the necessary information in the local tourist office." another official recited.

"Thank you." Nathalie replied.

After that, they could hear steps on the gravel outside and the woman who was assigned to this bus returned.

"Another tourist wants to go to the temple. We sent him to the tourist office." she said to the official who waited on the bus with a smile.

The caravan of buses crawled out of Lhasa through a beautiful mountain scenery. The sun was coming out and produced wonderful colours on everything around. It took Adrien considerable time to move his head and turn his face to see through the window. At that moment Marinette widened the clear patch she has made in the mist on the window so both of them could peek through.

The bus was full of Chinese teenagers and university students. There was some quiet chatter and slightly louder snoring in the background.

"I thought they came for me again." Adrien whispered.

"Me too." Marinette nodded.

"From what I've heard, they were going to the temple too." Adrien whispered. "But they have not mentioned me once. I do not know for sure if they are going after me at all."

"Perhaps your father wants an additional source of inspiration, besides that book." Marinette replied and jawed.

Adrien stiffened.

Then Marinette realized what she just said and stiffened too.

"Book?" Adrien pronounced it as a question. "How do you know about the book?" Adrien whispered his question and hugged her tighter as if she could escape somewhere just because he asked the question.

Marinette kept looking through the window and sighed. It was time to come clean. So she told him how she saw Lila steal his father's book and throw it into the trash. How she retrieved the book and returned to his father begging Gabriel to release Adrien back to school.

Adrien listened without interrupting. "It was you!" he nuzzled his cheek into hers. "Thank you!" he whispered with a shaky breath. She felt how he raised his hand and wiped something from his cheeks. Tikki kept patting her belly to the point it started to tickle her.

They continued to enjoy the scenery in silence.

She was relieved. The truth was out, he knew it and he did not mind. He did not question a single word she told him although she was not perfectly honest. It was Tikki who retrieved the book, not her.

Adrien had a lot to process this morning. His father and Nathalie were in Lhasa and were probably going to travel after them in the same direction. He started to feel the black cap on his head as a shield, as a mask and not so much as an item that is there just to keep him warm.

And he just learned that the girl he was holding was such a good friend to him. She stood up to his father and won. That was brave. He seldom tried that himself. But then again, was not he defying his father just by being there, on that bus?

The scenery was wonderful, there were green meadows with patches of brown with yak herds on the fields and they could see several tent camps and villages on the way. The buses were slow and the ride was monotonous. Their eyelids started to go heavy. Before long, they were both sleeping.


	17. Chapter 17 - The Bus to the Heavens

The bus to the heavens

They woke up when the bus tilted to the side and straightened up suddenly as it was going through a long and deep hole in the road. They have just reached the end of the asphalt and were on a dirt road swinging left and right as the bus swayed.

The official gude stood up and took a few steps from the front seat to the centre of the bus holding the seats to the sides with both hands and bumping into the seats with her thighs anyway.

"We are having a short break for the toilet. You will not have another chance for that stop for several hours." the short but sturdy woman warned as the bus came to a stop.

Marinette met a few girls who chatted with Ling in the queue for the toilet. She revealed only some basic information. All the girls were preparing for the university or already started and enjoyed their school break. Marinette managed to pronounce her name, lied that she was currently from Beijing (and tried to remember how to say my mother moves a lot) and 'I would like to study art' in acceptable Chinese. At least the girls did not inquire further.

Adrien chatted with Ye. He explained how they saw his father from the bus and how he was worried he was caught as he practically run away from home to be there. Ye told him that it is almost impossible for a foreigner to get the proper permit to travel to the temple on their own, but 'money could buy anything these days' and 'everything was possible'.

The bus continued by climbing on the slope of the mountain. The road was narrow and cut into the side of the mountain. The inclination of the slope increased and increased as well as the inclination of the road they took. But the view was amazing. The bus swayed the whole way and they could hear the engine struggling to provide sufficient power for the bus to climb. Once they were on a particularly steep slope the bus stopped. They could see people going out from the bus in front of them.

"The next two kilometres are too steep for the bus to carry us. We will walk that part." the official announced. Everyone grumbled and got up from their seats. They started walking with chatter but trekking uphill and the low density of air made them all quiet and concentrated on their breathing.

"City kids." the official waved her head.

After about one hour they reached the waiting buses and boarded again. There was a sigh of relief followed by a hassle of opening backpacks and unpacking the lunches they packed with them.

Nobody slept after their meal.

They were driving on a narrow road cut into the cliff of the mountain. The river glistened in the valley, hundreds of meters below them. Much lower than the Seine was when looked at from the top of the Eiffel tower. And they could not see any surface of the road left between the bus and the abyss. There was no road fence on most of the road. Everyone gripped their seats with their hands. Adrien, on the other hand gripped on Marinette. He was not afraid of the heights. But what if the bus fell of a cliff? He would definitely transform and save the bus from the fall. He was useless to his lady if he ended up crushed somewhere below.

Marinette studied the exterior while her brain was making plans. She would transform, smash the side window with her yoyo, Wrap her yoyo around that stone and held the bus from falling. And save Adrien and all the other passengers but also revealing her identity. Well, it was still better and more useful than going down with the bus.

They watched as the bus in front of them navigated a particularly nasty curve. The back wheel on the right side hanged over the edge of a cliff for a short while before it returned to the road. It was time for their bus to do the same.

Some passengers were filming with their phones. Other passengers closed their eyes and gripped to their seats. Adrien gripped Marinette closer. The girl was barely breathing. And then they have made that turn and could see what was awaiting them further down the road. Adrien released his grip slightly and Marinette took in a deep breath.

"Sorry." he whispered.

"It's okay." she whispered back. She would have held her breath anyway, just like most of the other passengers.

There was a waterfall. The water was falling straight onto the road.

"Close the windows." was an order that echoed throughout the bus.

They watched the valley below and later they watched how the bus in front of them went through the waterfall. Then it was their turn.

It was loud. The water banged on the bus rooftop. The banging started from the front of the bus and then spread to the back. Of course, water found it's way into the cabin, but it was bearable. Few passengers moved their belongings not to get wet. They could see nothing through the windows. The driver navigated slowly but blindly. Soon, the banging in the front stopped and the driver saw where the bus was going again. When the banging stopped they could see the view far more clearly.

"That was a car wash." Adrien grinned.

Marinette rolled her eyes, but laughed at his joke.

The far edge of the narrow valley seemed closer than the river below. The scenery was in all the shades of brown. From time to time, they could see a bird flying and at one point they could see some goats balancing on the cliffs on the opposite side.

They were driving slowly, but nobody ever thought of complaining or asking the driver to speed up. Most of the passengers have never experienced such a ride.

The terrain flattened as they reached a plateau and the buses finally stopped at the edge of something that would resemble a military base. At least a temporary one. It was composed of tents, with one small solid building with a pole in front proudly displaying a Chinese flag. There was no wall nor fence around so it was not intimidating.

"This is the end of the bus ride. You will be given dinner in the camp and then you can proceed to sleep in the tent number two. We will continue tomorrow morning after breakfast, at seven, get ready for the walk." and with that the official turned around, picked up her backpack and went out from the bus.

Adrien released Marinette from his arms and got out from the bus. His arms felt empty so he quickly grabbed the backpack and put it on his back. His arms still felt empty. So he grabbed their sleeping bag and hugged in his arms. Marinette looked at him with her eyebrows raised.

"I can take this to the tent." he offered with a smile. She walked by his side to the tent carrying her small backpack. He left their things and they went for the dinner. It was a simple meal with a lot of rice with some sauce. After that, it was possible to use the showers. They had separate blocks for men and women. The queues were moving really fast, and soon they knew why. The water was cold. Most of the kids just ran through or stepped in on the side careful not to get their hair wet and wiped themselves off.

Freezing and wearing only her pyjama from Paris, Marinette found Adrien already inside their sleeping bag. He smiled at first but his eyes were worried. Soon the official appeared behind Marinette.

"Comrade, you can not sleep like that. You will freeze before the morning." the woman scolded but in gentle and worried tone.

Marinette's teeth were shaking too much for her to from words.

"That is okay, my sister just forgot to take this." Adrien sat up and revealed he was wearing his black fleece onesie. He reached into the backpack and produced a red fleece onesie and gave it to Marinette. He intended to give it to Ladybug, but it was too risky to transform and meet on a rooftop in Lhasa so he kept it. And it was useless to keep it in the backpack while Marinette was freezing.

Her eyes almost popped out from her head. What was this? That was not hers! She had not time to process the information. The air was getting colder quickly and she put her legs and arms inside and zipped it with her shivering hands.

Adrien smiled. The official nodded in approval and turned around to scold someone else.

"It looks good on you and fits you perfectly." Adrien whispered to her and smiled gently. Marinette blushed due to his compliment. She felt Tikki snuggle in her onesie as she phased through from the pile of clothes Marinette brought with her.

Adrien felt Plagg growl in his onesie. The little black god of destruction was frustrated because he could not tease Adrien and sought any other way to transfer his frustration, perhaps through touch.

Once she settled, she had to ask.

"Um, thank you for the onesie Adrien, but where did this come from?" Marinette whispered her question carefully and tenderly not to hurt his feelings.

"Um, from a shop in Lhasa?" Adrien smiled in the darkness. His thoughts were completely messed up. What would his lady think about him sharing a sleeping bag with another girl? But they were just friends. Yes, in fact, he was a friend to both Marinette and Ladybug. And why would she be bothered by that? And why did he think she should or could be bothered by that? Yes, he have bought that onesie for Ladybug, but Marinette needed it more.

Marinette, on the other hand listened to his answer (which was not answering her question at all) and exhaled in frustration. She took a moment to think.

"Yes, but why have you given it to me?" Marinette insisted on getting an answer.

"Because you were cold?" he smirked in the darkness, she could not see it, but she could feel it.

At that moment, Adrien reached for his phone which reminded Marinette to do the same.

"There is some signal here." Adrien whispered.

Marinette was trying to reach her purse and take the phone out while keeping inside the sleeping bag while Adrien typed on his phone. His face was lit up with his screen when she finally unlocked her phone. She ignored all the applications save one. There was a message from Chat.

Cat: greetings from the mountain cat.

She smiled widely. She missed not meeting him last night. She felt Adrien move behind her and she moved her phone just a little bit to be able to type the reply.

Bug: greeting from the heaven

Then she switched to the messages from Alya. They were many text messages and more the half of them were that the picture is not available at the moment. Marinette typed a short reply where they are and that she will probably have no signal for the next few days.

She felt Adrien sigh happily behind her. It was the moment he read the message from Ladybug.

They switched off their phones, put them aside and pulled their arms under the covers. She felt her kwami snuggle beneath her onesie. The miracle box was safe in her backpack near her head.

Adrien automatically wrapped his arms around Marinette and pulled her closer. It was cold. He had an excuse if anyone asked. The truth was he simply felt good that way. And he would admit that much. Then he remembered what she told him on the bus, about the book, and wanted to pull her even closer, perhaps even a kiss on the cheek? Nah, not then, in the middle of the night, while they were sharing the sleeping bag. He should have done it on the bus, right when she told him. He was sorry he did not do it then.

She did not ask why he was holding her again. She was turned with her back towards him. She put her hands over his and closed her eyes. Her thoughts drifted towards a rainy afternoon when a boy gave her his umbrella in front of her school. She dismissed all the other thoughts, even the fact that he admitted to love some other girl and who that other girl probably was. Right now, she was in heaven.


	18. Chapter 18 - A walk in the Park

A walk in the park

It was dark when they were woken up the first time. The loudspeakers in the camp announced the start of the day for the proud people serving in this camp. A small light was all they had in a large tent that housed more than forty people sleeping in the sleeping bags. It was the whole group from the bus.

"The breakfast will be in one hour." the official who also served as their guide announced authoritatively with a hoarse voice as she was getting up.

It was cold. The moisture from their breath condensed on everything. The tent was covered in tiny icicles from the inside. Adrien was glad he was keeping his black cap on his head the whole time. He was also happy with the fleece onesie. He could feel with his hand how the sleeping bag was not warm on the inside, although it provided good insulation from the cold air, the ground was frozen and their thin mat and sleeping bag were insufficient. And most of all, Adrien was glad there was someone else helping him keep the sleeping bag warm. Marinette was yet to show any sign of waking up.

"Come on you city kids." the guide encouraged the kids to go out from their sleeping bags. "You had enough sleep, it has been nine hours."

The kids were not eager to catch more sleep. They just wanted to stay in their sleeping bags as they were obviously warmer than the outside.

Adrien moved his hand to tap Marinette's shoulder. The movement caused the top cover of the sleeping bag to go up slightly around their necks and some cold air entered the sleeping bag.

"No, cold." she protested. Then she blinked her eyes open. "It is so cold." she moved as if she was trying to find a position that would keep her warmer. Adrien searched her hands and felt them. Her hands were cold.

"Come on, get up, get dressed and move. That will warm you up." the guide made a show of getting dressed herself. She took her clothes and dusted the icicles off before putting it on. The move was followed by several shrieks and groans from the students around.

"Hey, you two awake?" Ye whispered.

"Yeah" Adrien replied. "Good morning."

"It will be good in a few hours, right now it is neither good nor morning." Ye groaned.

Marinette laughed.

"I totally agree with you." Ling spoke hoarsely.

"Aren't you a morning person?" Adrien teased. It was clear that the problem was not in the number shown on the clock but in the number shown on a thermometer.

All around them the students were stirring in their sleeping bags, but only the bravest did as their guide.

"You know, getting that double sleeping bag was probably a very good idea." Ye said regretfully looking at Ling.

"I do not feel my hands nor my feet." Ling complained. "Nor my nose." she added after a short pause.

"I am not moving out of this sleeping bag." Ye said as he took one hand out of the sleeping bag and reached for his clothes that sat on top of his backpack between his head and the edge of the tent. He swiped the icicles away and pulled the clothes inside the sleeping bag. And then he muffled his scream.

"This is cold." he screamed through his teeth.

Ling laughed. "What did you expect? It was not stored on the bathroom heater."

Meanwhile, Marinette discovered what was the warmest object and snuggled into Adrien even pulling her face under the covers.

"You warm." she muffled into his chest.

Adrien felt Plagg move around his onesie away from Marinette and then snicker.

"You warm too." Adrien replied to the hair on top of her head.

All around, students started to get dressed, they mostly slept in the warm underwear with long sleeves and leggings and thick socks and the pyjama over it. Nobody left the tent to change somewhere else. There were a few muffled screams coming from students putting on cold clothes on.

"Come on, you sleepy kids." the guide nudged their sleeping bag with her foot.

Adrien took a few deep breaths to collect the courage and stood up. He was in his onesie and the cold shock was not imminent.

Braved by the fact that Adrien did not scream when he got out from the sleeping bag and encouraged even more by the fact that her heating pad was now absent, Marinette got up too.

Marinette fished out her warm underwear from her backpack. She had to remove the onesie before putting it on. Tikki hid in her pyjama and Marinette took one deep breath. The cold air was not so much as a shock as putting the cold long sleeve undershirt on her upper body. Then she put the long johns over her pyjama.

Adrien was already dressed and rolling up the sleeping bag when she reached for her third layer of clothes.

One student was putting on his cold clothes and did not abstain from screaming how cold it was. Apparently, he decided to make a show of how much cold it was and how many different kinds of noises he could produce just to illustrate his suffering. The small woman that was their official guide gave the boy one look and he stopped instantly. The whole show earned a few laughs.

Then the guide stopped in front of Ling.

"Get up and get dressed, comrade!" it was an order.

Ling looked up to Marinette.

"You are a seamstress, right?" Ling asked.

Marinette nodded while she was not absolutely sure what the question was.

"Could you make holes in my sleeping bag for my feet and put my shoes on? I can walk in it." Ling asked very slowly.

Adrien whispered the translation to Marinette until he snorted, bent over and laughed his heart out.

Marinette, on the other hand, crouched by Ling's feet to examine her sleeping bag.

"I admire your helpfulness, but you will do no such thing." the guide patted Marinette on her shoulder.

Ye jumped in and dragged Marinette away.

Ling made a show of shivering, squealing and complaining about the cold while Marinette and Ye helped her get dressed.

In the meantime, Adrien was digging through the backpack to find more cheese for his hungry kwami. It must have fallen to the bottom. He dug deeper and deeper until he felt the package he was looking for. While he was extracting the cheese out, he discovered that he accidentally leaned on Marinette's small backpack. He was concerned he crushed something inside and felt it a bit more with his fingers. It contained something hard and incompressible. It was a one single object and to his amazement he discovered that it was probably the same object he hit with his pinkie toe. What was that? Why was she carrying that in her backpack?

He gave Plagg one triangle while stuffing the rest of the cheese in his jacket pocket.

The breakfast was quick and big. They ate and drank a lot of hot yellowish-grey salty liquid that was explained to be the Tibetan tea. Students stood in line to fill in their thermos bottles with the warm liquid and get a cup more.

When they started to walk, the sky was just turning to grey. The dawn was yet to come.

For the first hour they walked uphill. Rare and cold air made them breathe quickly and reduce conversation to a minimum. When they reached the saddle in the terrain they could see another valley below. The sun just raised above the mountains and the valley was partially lit up by the sun and partially in the shadow. The upper portions of the terrain were brown with patches of green in the deeper parts of the valley. It was beautiful.

Further walk was not so beautiful. They were about to go downhill. Students started to chatter and joke about the way being downhill from there. The path was steeper and steeper, the large stones were slippery from the moisture while the gravel would simply slip under their feet. They had to watch every step. Going down also put a lot of pressure on their feet and toes in unfamiliar new shoes. Several students complained about their feet even last night after a short walk from yesterday. The fear of falling, the adrenaline of facing the steep slope while going down and the scenery they could admire took their minds from the pain in their feet.

The path they walked became less and less steep and soon they reached a stream they had to cross.

"Okay, everyone, take your shoes and your socks off!" the guide ordered.

There were huffs. There were sighs of relief when the shoes were taken off. There were scrunched faces at the sensation of the bare feet on the cold stone. And there were regular complaints when they walked the gravel as the small stones were hard on their bare feet. And then their feet entered the water. The cold water of the stream felt pleasant against the bruised skin on their feet and just when it started to feel painfully cold in their ankles, they were out from the stream and could put back the shoes.

"It was a really god idea to get bigger shoes, thank you Ling." Adrien said examining his feet.

"Mhm" Marinette voiced her agreement while using words as little as possible "Thank you!" she added in Chinese, very proud of herself.

"This is not fair. I just warmed up and then this." Ling whined while she put back her socks and shoes. "Can I exchange my sleeping bag to have her as a heating pad, Adrien?" Ling pointed at Marinette.

"Nope." the boy replied wrapping his arm around Marinette. "She is all mine."

Oh, how much the girl in question wanted to hear those words. She looked at Adrien thorough her bangs and blushed. He let go to be able to tie up his shoes.

"She may be quiet, but she understands." Ye whispered to Ling.

"And I can't believe he could be so oblivious." Ling whispered back.

"He is just a boy, what do you expect." Ye nudged Ling with his elbow.

Their thermos bottles were mostly empty so they took the water from the stream to drink.

They continued to walk and chatted.

"This is so beautiful." Marinette admired the scenery and whispered.

Adrien quickly turned around, the group behind them was about ten meters away and in front of them were just Ye and Ling and then a similar gap to the next group. They could speak in French quietly.

"Yeah, I can't believe I am here." Adrien replied his eyes practically glowing.

"I can't believe you escaped your father." Marinette nudged him with her elbow. "I cant believe you had to escape your father." she said looking down. "I can't believe he would not take you with him." she finished.

"Oh, I can" Adrien whispered gently. "Don't worry about that Marinette."

"But it is wrong." Marinette complained. Adrien hushed her.

"Listen, he is not that bad. He even made me this scarf" Adrien pointed to the light blue scarf around his neck. "This is how I know he cares. He is just difficult sometimes."

It was the scarf Marinette made. It was the same scarf she had given him, but somehow Adrien thought it was from his father. And because of that, Adrien was ready to accept such wrong treatment from his father. Suddenly, Marinette knew she was wrong to let him believe that. She turned towards him with all the determination she could muster, she put her hands on her hips and raised her face towards him looking at him straight in the eyes.

"Well, your father did not make that scarf. I did." Marinette had to take a few breaths while Adrien gaped at her. "I made it. I delivered it to your home on your birthday." She averted her eyes away from the boy and towards the path they were walking. She increased her pace and was now walking in front of him. Adrien increased his pace to catch up with her. He walked on her side and looked at her face from time to time. She stared at the path in front of her with such determination in her blue eyes that it reminded him of his lady.

"You should not let your father treat you the way he does just because you think he made you a present." Marinette spoke quietly glaring at the space in front of her. She scolded him (her crush, could Alya ever believe that?) but she was angry at herself. How much mistreatment did Adrien suffer because he believed that scarf was made by his Father?

"Marinette" he whispered gently "Thank you for the scarf." There was no reason for her to lie about this. His eyes got moist and his vision a bit blur. He turned to watch where he was going.

They continued in silence for several minutes.

"So, the book, the scarf, what else should I know?" he asked with a smirk as soon as Marinette turned her eyes towards him.

She groaned. "I never should have told you that!" Adrien laughed.

"We are stopping for a break here." The guide announced.

They reached a stream, unpacked the cooking gear and soon they prepared four meals of instant noodles. Ling put more water to boil to prepare more tea for the way. They chatted about the stones and the grass, about the scenery and the Sun, about the cold and the sleeping bags and about their feet. The four of them were doing much better than most of the group.

"I did not expect you two to be in such a good condition to walk this long at this altitude." Ye complimented.

"And they even managed to have an argument." Ling winked.


	19. Chapter 19 - The Temple Above the Clouds

The temple above the clouds

Marinette was staring at the gravel unfocused.

Adrien removed his black cap briefly and ruffled his hair. He felt warm under the cap and wanted to get some air to his scalp. Marinette stared at him half aware what she was doing.

"Like what you see?" He smirked.

His hair was as messy as Chat's. That was the first thought on Marinette's mind. And he smirked the same way. He waved his head so his hair flew all around his face. He leaned in closer. She poked his nose before she even gave a thought on what was she about to do. He pulled back slightly and stared back at her before he put the black cap back on his head.

They both made sure to sneak a peek at their kwami in their jackets and feed them before they continued. Both kwami just blinked back aware of the other's proximity.

The walk continued after lunch. There were different noises heard from the students who chose the shoes of the right size instead of one size larger, but the guide was relentless.

They started with chatting about nothing until the group spread out and the distance between smaller groupings was sufficient to allow private conversation.

"So" Adrien started "Anything else you want to tell me?" he inquired with a smirk and mischievous tone. Marinette waved her head looking to the ground in front of her. There were many things to admit, how she stolen his phone, how she lied to him in the wax museum and a few other times that she did not like him that way. But the way she waved her head told Adrien that there was more stuff to be told, she was just not ready to say it.

"Perhaps it is your turn." she turned to him proud of herself and the way she invented this reply without considering what she could get in return.

Adrien gave it a thought.

"I am just beginning to realize how much I do not like the life my father wants me to live." Adrien said bluntly. Marinette stared at him speechless. "And it is a secret, because I was not aware of it."

Marinette laughed at his last sentence. Perhaps the others were more aware, but she kept silent.

"I mean I like fencing, but probably just because I got to make friends like Kagami." he continued. Marinette felt her stomach twist a little at the mention of the other girl but then there was a word friend involved so she released a stronger breath than her normal breathing.

"Yeah, at least that." Adrien reacted to her change in breathing "And I do not enjoy the Chinese so much except it helped me get here." Adrien gestures to show the scenery. "And I like playing the piano, but not the compositions my father wants me to play."

Marinette nodded in understanding.

"And I like going to school, but I do not like when Lila hurts you and you tell me nothing." he scolded her. Marinette bowed her head. Her eyes were getting moist. She might blame the rising wind for that, but she was not sure it would really work.

"At least, you have never lied to me Marinette." Adrien threw his arm around her shoulders to pull her closer, but it was awkward to walk that way with all the things they carried on their backs so he let go.

"But I have." Marinette spoke quietly, her chin on her chest. Adrien turned his face towards her and stared with his mouth open.

"I lied to you in the wax museum." she whispered and let him conclude on his own what the lie was, and what the truth was.

The biggest lie, or the truth she was hiding was attached on her ears and hiding in her jacket and her backpack and she could not tell him that.

They continued walking in silence. They had to stop a few times to wait for the slow ones in the group and admired the view.

Marinette went to the side to speak with Tikki.

"Why did I say all that, Tikki?" the girl whined.

"These mountains sometimes make you be more honest than you would like to be." Tikki smiled knowingly.

"I should have kept my mouth shut. Or stumbled and stuttered and he would not ask me anything." Marinette stared in the distance while Tikki looked out from her jacket to enjoy the view. She peeked out many times during their walk but Adrien had his eyes on Marinette so often she could not see much except through the part of the jacket that was made of a net to let the air through.

"Everything will be okay Marinette. We should reach the temple in the evening." Tikki chirped. Marinette's thoughts wandered off towards the temple and what awaited her there. How is she going to approach the monks without revealing herself?

Adrien had different problems. He was on his last piece of Camembert from France.

"There you go, you glutton." Adrien chided the little black cat kwami giving him the cheese triangle.

"You are just angry because of your little lover's quarrel with pigtails. Besides, I need more calories. The trekking can double your need for the calorie intake." Plagg teased and munched on the cheese.

"She is not … " Adrien trailed off. Marinette admitted she lied to him but not exactly what the lie was nor what was the truth. He wanted to think about it but at the same time, her refused to return to the wax museum in his thoughts, it reminded him of Adrien Agreste, the brand, and here he was, the boy. Instead, he looked back towards the group that was catching up with them. Somewhere in this whole large group was Ladybug as a civilian. And this group was considerably smaller than the population of Paris. He thought how he could identify her if he really tried. But that was not what she wanted so he pushed the idea out of his thoughts. They should reach the temple this evening.

Later in the day, the slow ones were becoming slower and lagged behind. The quick ones were waiting in something that resembled a village. It was a group of tents formed around one small stone building on the edge of a large green field of grass. Those were Tibetan nomads herding their yak and goats. The nomads were very interested in the group of youngsters walking through Tibet and soon they began talking.

They talked and soon they were collecting dried yak manure to fuel the cooking stove and make some Tibetan tea. Marinette was so brave to join several nomad girls, Ling went just because Marinette did. They went to fetch the water from a stream nearby. Adrien chatted with the boys and soon discovered that they had some cheese made from yak's and goat's milk. Adrien felt Plagg scratching his chest under his jacket and offered to buy something. He was refused the purchase but offered to try some so the boy accepted. It was not particularly smelly. He tasted it. The taste was really strong, just the way Plagg loved it. Adrien nodded his head in approval and sneaked the rest to Plagg.

The girls made the tea and they were all drinking it when Adrien felt more scratching.

"Get me more" Plagg demanded. The little glutton obviously did not even care if someone might have heard him. But the chatter around was loud enough. In the end, Adrien traded one of his solar power charging units for the cheese. Actually, he was given the cheese, so he gave them the unit to somehow pay them back, they would not take his money and he bought several of those units in the shop in Lhasa as he could not resist the new gadgets.

"Come on, let's go!" the guide called. "We have to start now or you will sleep outside tonight."

It was still a few hours walk to the temple and the sun was getting low.

"Hey, what do you think we will do once we get to the temple?" Adrien asked the three other teens.

Marinette almost froze, she bowed her head and hoped that no answer was a good answer. Suddenly, she had no clue. Tikki told her not to reveal herself, so at least she knew that. With her severely limited knowledge of Chinese, how will she communicate with the monks? She could not ask Adrien to translate. Whenever she asked the kwami about that, they would answer something vague as if the problem will be resolved by itself.

"Eat" Ye answered and smiled.

"Sleep" Ling sighed.

"And you?" Adrien smiled to Marinette.

"Um yes, me too, eat and sleep." She mumbled quickly. Well she definitely intended to do that too.

"Yeah, me too, but there must be something interesting to see too." Adrien was rather full of energy for someone who spent the day walking in the high altitude.

"We'll see about that." Ling shrugged. "I mean, there will definitely be something interesting, but right now, hot meal, warm bed and hot water would be the most interesting." She actually gave Adrien a look under the eye for the 'warm bed' part. Adrien actually blushed (although his face was already red due to the physical effort).

"It also depends how much we will be allowed to see. The monks are only beginning to face the modern world. We are practically the first civilians there, save the researches, and only because the monks persuaded the authorities that they would meet young students." Ye explained wide and clear.

The mist started to form close to the ground and soon they were walking through a thin layer of clouds that reached up to their knees. Soon it reached up to their thighs and later waist. They were practically leading the group, the eagerness and energy of Adrien and Marinette only increased as they could see the temple in the distance. As they stirred the air while they moved through it, they left a path slightly clear of fog just behind them.

"It looks as if we are walking on the clouds." Marinette admired the scenery.

"It definitely does not feel that way. My shoes are beginning to kill me." Ling complained, but her pace was just as quick. The sun began to set behind the mountains in the distance.

They reached the bottom of the stairs that lead to the temple above them and sighed with relief. They switched on their torches and started to climb. They were leading the group now. When they climbed for some time, they could see a trail of lights from flash lights lit by the students behind them. They climbed some more and then more and more until they suddenly reached the gates that lead to the temple.

There were several solders and government officials posted in front of a tent close to the entrance.

"Where is your guide." the man flashed his torch in their faces and blinded them temporarily.

"She is taking care of the slow ones behind us." Ye answered quickly after the standard greeting.

One monk got out from the door and stood before the kids. He carried no flash light. The same solider blinded him by pointing the flash light into the face of the monk. The man was not old yet, but he carried an air of ancient wisdom. He waited for the solider to remove the flash light from his face.

"You may enter once they let you." the solider said quickly and turned to the stairs to meet the other students who could be heard climbing up the stairs.

The monk eyed them in the darkness. The students lowered their flash lights. The moon was climbing the sky and the man studied them in the moonlight.

"You have arrived." the man spoke solemnly.

The four youngsters confirmed the obvious. But there was something in the man's tone that told Marinette and Adrien there was more to it.

"You have been awaited for." the man continued in the same tone. He was looking at Marinette in the darkness and she could tell it. She could feel it.

The man opened the door and fastened it to stay open.

"You may proceed inside." he motioned for the teens to enter the temple. There was a man standing inside on the side of the door.

"Please take them to the hall and tell the master that those we waited for have arrived." the monk continued in the same solemn tone.

They left their shoes at the entrance as requested and proceeded to another door nearby that lead to a large hall.

"This is where you will sleep tonight." the monk said motioning for the whole hall and turned around, probably to pass the message he was given.

The teens took a place in one corner, removed their backpacks and unfolded the mattresses and the sleeping bags. The floor was made of stone and was definitely not warm. They were wandering the large hall admiring the decorations on the floor while lighting them up with their torches when another monk took their attention. Other students started to arrive and take more space on the floor.

"You will receive a meal." the man informed them simply and turned around.

The first group of students followed the man into another large room. This one had carpets on the floor. They took their bowls with their meals, still steaming and hot and sat down on the carpets forming long rows.

"You can eat. You had a long day. We will proceed with our prayers." the monk said and turned around.

The kids ate their food and watched several monks chanting and eating in turns. Soon, one monk motioned for them to get some more tea. The room was filling up with students and they went out to make space.

But, they did not go straight back to the large main hall where they left their belongings. Adrien noticed Plagg was unnaturally calm and did not ask for food once since they have arrived. Perhaps the little glutton was finally full? Or it was the temple? Plagg claimed he was always hungry. Adrien felt his pocket where Plagg slept. Plagg was still there.

Marinette wanted to roam around as much as she was allowed and perhaps getting caught by the monks and separated from the group might work in her favour somehow. She felt Tikki pat her belly a few times and felt assured she was doing the right thing.

They walked along a corridor and watched the murals assembled by the monks from the colourful stones. Marinette stopped near one mural showing nothing in particular, except there was one particular shape, red with black spots. She stared at it and stared. It was tear shaped. It was linked to another tear shaped object. It was black with two green stones inserted. She stood there and stared at the image in front of her. She opened her jacket so Tikki could see it, but she did not ask anything.

Then she heard someone else unzip the jacket right next to her. She turned and saw blonde hair sticking out from under a black cap. Adrien gaped at the image just like she did moments ago.

"Your arrival is much appreciated." A solemn woman's voice came from behind the two teens. "You should rest now."

They returned to the main hall and navigated between the sleeping bags back to the corner where they left their things. Adrien noticed Marinette felt her backpack and was satisfied to find that firm object that offended his foot two nights ago still in there.

They chatted about the cold and the night and the walk and everything and nothing while they took off the top layers of clothes. They put on their onesies and wrapped themselves in the sleeping bags.

Marinette zipped up the sleeping bag and Adrien pulled her close. None of them gave it a second thought any more. Few minutes more and they were both fast asleep.


	20. Chapter 20 - A Wake Up Call

A wake up call

Adrien woke up in the darkness feeling a presence of a person standing next to him. The feeling was unpleasant as if the person stood there for some time watching him sleep. How much could they see in this darkness anyway? Probably it was just one of the monks curious about the newcomers in their temple, he thought to himself to calm himself down. The large hall was full of sleeping students and more than a few of them were snoring. He was trying to shake the awkward feeling of being watched. Then he felt Marinette warm and breathing in his arms and pulled her slightly closer. It felt better, it felt good and comforting and safe so he smiled. Then he entertained himself with different thoughts, he wandered what would happen in the morning. Would Ladybug find him? Should he approach the monks? She told him not to reveal himself. He tried to locate where Plagg was without moving much. He felt a lump on his chest between him and Marinette. But, the lump was almost motionless, Plagg was breathing softly and slowly, not snoring like usual. Perhaps Adrien's heart was beating too hard for the little glutton to sleep? The boy could hear his own heart pounding in his ears after he heard the person standing above him taking in a breath slightly louder than usual.

Marinette woke up when Adrien pulled her closer. She remained motionless because she assumed he did it unconsciously in his sleep. She smiled to herself. She was Ladybug. She was proud of using her head to make her decisions. What was the last time she used her head to decide anything? (Or for anything else for that matter.) She was the one whose duty was to protect and defend from evil, everyone, not just Adrien. Although she was constantly thinking about protecting him, both as Ladybug and as Marinette, now she felt protected by him (well, he protected her from the cold, that's for sure), warm and safe. She felt more than heard someone was hovering above them. Then she could even distinguish the sound of their breathing above her from all the other sounds of breathing and snoring students in the large hall. Then there was a movement above her. She pulled her arm up and grabbed onto the cloth bag containing the miraculous box lying on the floor just above her head. It was a small movement considering the same hand was below her head just before, but there was a reaction.

"Your attention is desired and appreciated." the voice of the monk that met them at the entrance spoke quietly from the darkness above them.

Marinette did not understand the words so well and she was not absolutely sure what was asked from her, but she felt it was her cue to get up and follow the owner of that voice. She considered how to extract herself from Adrien's embrace without waking him up. If only she could fulfil her task here (for whatever it was) and return to the sleeping bag before he wakes up in the morning. She wandered what would happen now and would she be allowed to return at all, both to Adrien and then to her parents. Probably not. She was becoming aware what this journey was. Master Fu never completed the training in the temple. But, she would have to return to Paris and protect it from Hawk Moth. Oh, how will she do all this?

Adrien heard the words and understood. The monks, somehow, they knew. They knew who he was even without him revealing his identity. He hoped he will join Ladybug and here they will learn and train to be better superheroes. He might even learn her true identity. The thought made him giddy. But then, he should also leave this warm girl he was holding and it made him kind of sad. She made him feel warm inside, he felt more at home and safer by her side than he felt in the Agreste mansion. But now, he had to let go of her and sneak out from the sleeping bag. He just hoped she will not be too cold sleeping alone in it until the morning.

The owner of the voice has trained patience for years and was feeling no hurry, but there was one more person next to him and they moved one step closer.

Both Adrien and Marinette moved at the same time and sat up. Only then Adrien removed his arms and realized they are both awake. Marinette wanted to say something, to say thank you for knowing you, to say goodbye, she was not sure what this was and what was she supposed to say to Adrien right now. So she kept silent. She shot to her feet and took her cloth bag with her. Tikki was holding onto her pyjama under her onesie.

_Why is she getting up_, Adrien thought while getting on his feet himself. The sleeping bag will get cold again. He felt a hand on his shoulder. The man before him put his hand onto his shoulder. Adrien nodded. He is about to follow him.

Marinette felt a hand on her shoulder and nodded. This was it, she was going away. She only hoped Adrien would understand. But she felt Adrien was approached by another person. Perhaps it was because she gave him the snake miraculous and he was Aspik once? Yeah, it must have been that. She will have to explain them to let him go. The boy should not give up on his life for her failed judgement that day.

Adrien made a few careful steps steered in the darkness by the monk who walked behind him and held his hand on Adrien's shoulder. Then he felt Marinette was steered by another person, another monk just beside him. Why were they taking her? She was Multimouse just once. Ladybug told her she will never get the miraculous again.

They walked in silence and complete darkness. Their feet felt the cold and hard stone floor below through the thick socks. They walked slowly and carefully, tentatively making each step forward and turning whenever the hand on the shoulder would signal them to. They could feel the other was walking just next to them. Soon they were steered to a stop and then nudged gently. One foot tentatively extended forward and they hit something. It was a step. Then there was another step and another. They climbed about twenty steps before they were on the top. They continued walking and soon the stone beneath their feet was replaced by softer and warmer surface of a carpet. At one point they were aware they got separated. They were lead to a stop and the hand pushed them to sit down. So they sat on a carpet. They could hear the sound of the door closing. And then there was light.

Adrien squinted his eyes. It was weak light of a candle lit up by the monk who lead him to the room. The face of the same monk who met them on the temple entrance nodded to him and moved to the side as the monk sat down. Further behind the candle, an old man sat on a bench near the wall. He watched the boy with careful eyes. He was wearing the same robes as every monk they saw since they arrived and Adrien could vaguely remember seeing the same monk at dinner last night and feeling being watched by him. Back then, he did not give it too much attention as he expected the monks would watch all students with interest. The man was sitting with his legs folded before him, he was small and reminded Adrien of Master Fu. He had long white beard and hair (unlike the monks he saw in Lhasa).

They were sitting in silence and watched each other for quite some time. Adrien moved his hands and took his black cap from his head, he ruffled his hair and scratched the back of his neck without moving his eyes from the old man. The old man gave one firm nod looking Adrien straight into his eyes and Adrien gave one firm nod in return. He had no idea why, but he felt that was the right thing to do. He felt Plagg clutch onto his chest rather desperately and fought off the urge to raise his hand and pet his kwami and calm him down. He did not know why he felt like this might be him saying goodbye to the little black cat-like god of destruction and it broke his heart. He fought the thought away from his head just like he fought the tears out from his eyes. He blinked them away while his view became a little blur but he never averted his eyes from the old man. If they take Plagg away from him, he was not sure how he could continue to live. Who would defend Paris then, alongside Ladybug? Someone should. She should not do it alone. What if they would also take her miraculous from her. Would he ever find her? Would he ever see her? Would he ever meet her again? Adrien did not look around but felt Ladybug was not here. It was only him facing this old man. Perhaps it was for the better. Identities and stuff. Perhaps, if they did not reveal their identities he would be allowed to keep Plagg and return to defend Paris together with Ladybug.

"You have arrived." the old man spoke quietly.

Marinette bid goodbyes in her thoughts to everyone she knew. She felt grateful for having such loving and understanding parents. She was saying goodbye to Alya and Nino, Ye and Ling, her relatives, her friends, her teachers. In her thoughts she was saying goodbye to Adrien. She hoped she would return to Paris and defend it again with Chat once this whole adventure in the temple is finished. She wanted to return and make sure Adrien was safe. She was taking step after step on the cold and hard stone without feeling the chill. Her brain was overthinking everything yet again. The miracle box was wrapped in the same colourful cloth bag she hugged in her arms and carried with her to this meeting in the middle of the night, or whatever this was. She went up the stairs as they steered her, she was deep in her thoughts, about all the people she fought as akumas, about Paris and her home and the bakery and Adrien. She felt a tear coming to her eye and slipping out. She bid goodbye to Adrien with each step. The surface she walked on was softer now and warmer and she was steered to make a few more turns before the hand signalled her to sit down.

A light blinded her at the first moment. It was a single candle placed before her. She held her cloth bag closer to her chest while she waited for her eyes to adjust. The person who guided her was a woman dressed in monk's robes. The woman sat on the side. Marinette searched the room with her eyes, there was no one else but an old lady sitting on a pile of cushions on the other end of the room. Her hair was grey and long and her body was wrapped in the same robes as the other monks she saw. Marinette tried to remember if she saw the old lady at the dinner last night. She tried to entertain her thoughts with anything to prevent herself from panicking, from freaking out, from being a clumsy teenager she so often was. Right there and then, she was Ladybug, the protector of Paris and the guardian of the miraculous. The old woman watching her gave one firm nod. Marinette gave a nod back.

"You have arrived." the woman on the side spoke, in French. It was the same voice that told her and Adrien to go to rest last night.


	21. Chapter 21 - The Talk With Adrien

The talk with Adrien

"You have arrived." the old man spoke quietly.

Adrien nodded wandering what was he supposed to answer to that, it was an obvious fact that he had arrived, that he was there.

"Yes." he answered waiting patiently what is going to happen next.

"Your journey was long and hard." the old man continued.

Adrien could not help himself but smile. Perhaps the trip from Paris to the temple was long and hard for a spoiled rich kid, perhaps he should have felt more annoyed and more exhausted. But he enjoyed every moment of it.

"Not at all." Adrien answered with a smile and he meant it. "I enjoyed every moment of my travel over here."

The old man gave him a look. It was obvious he did not mean just the travel, but let him be for now. It was just a test anyway.

"You speak Chinese very well." the old man continued.

"Thank you, I had a private Chinese tutor for years now." Adrien smiled again.

The old man looked as if he was processing those words for some time.

"Tell me about yourself and the world you come from." The old man ordered.

And Adrien told him about Paris and France and the modern world and his school and his private education, the life in general. There were two subjects he avoided. And the old man asked about the first one.

"Tell me about your family." the old man inquired once Adrien stopped with his description.

And Adrien gave the old man an honest account as much as he could give him. He even described what Marinette did for him while he thought it was his father. He casually added that she had travelled with him to the temple and admitted her deeds to him only yesterday.

The old man nodded encouraging the boy to continue talking.

And Adrien described how he effectively ran away from his father's house to get there, how he flew the plane and took a ride on the train and bus and then on foot.

"You have many more means for travel these days." The old man nodded with certain glow in his eyes. Then, a long period of silence weighted over the room. Adrien was not sure if he was supposed to be quiet and wait for the next question or elaborate on the modern transportation system. Well, they would ask him, would not they?

The young man stared at the boy studying his features and watched every move. The old man stroked his beard, slowly and thoughtfully, arranging his thoughts and forming the next question. His eyes were gentle and never left Adrien's face, but they were sometimes out of focus revealing the old monk was contemplating his own thoughts. At one moment, his eyes glowed with a spark revealing a decision has been made.

"Tell me, young man, about the place where you live again. Is there some danger looming over there?" The man asked while his eyes seemed even more focused on the boy.

And Adrien told him about the akumas and Hawk moth, then about Ladybug and Chat Noir (from the third person point of view) and then some more about Mayura and amok and sentimonsters and finally described the temporary heroes who helped out from time to time. He was avoiding telling too many details that could give away his identity although he was sure that was the purpose of this conversation. These monks must have known by then who he was. Otherwise, why would they drag him to this interview in the middle of the night? But, where was Ladybug? He shifted a bit the position in which he sat, rearranging his legs in front of him. He put his hands on his knees.

The old man waited for some time, contemplating the next question. Perhaps he was just waiting for Adrien to become uncomfortable due to the heavy silence. Whatever it was, when Adrien moved slightly, the old monk spoke again.

"Tell me about your ring." the old man insisted while a small smile formed on his lips.

Adrien gulped. This was it. But he was not supposed to give away his identity? Or was he? He was told if his identity was discovered, he was loosing the ring? Or what was it again? Huh.

"I was given this ring. I found it one day in my room." Adrien stated simply. That was not a lie. And that was not giving away anything, at least the boy thought so.

"Who gave it to you?" the old man pushed further, this time without any pause, obviously encouraged by the partial answer he already got.

"An old Chinese man who told me to call him Master Fu." Adrien struggled to keep his voice steady. He was telling the truth without actually telling he was Chat Noir.

"So you were chosen." the old man said and looked away from the boys face for the first time during the whole conversation, his eyes flicked down to his own hands. He sat there silent for a few deep and long breaths.

"This temple was absent for some years." The old man continued when he looked at Adrien again. He stroked his beard again while he spoke and the tone of the words insinuated that it was expected for Adrien to continue.

"Yes, for many years. Ladybug and Chat Noir defeated a sentimonster called Feastin and the temple re-appeared in the mountains. It was in the news on the television." Adrien continued wandering how much he could say. The fact that it was broadcast was making the things easier. He chose not to mention what the sentimonster was after nor Master Fu involvement.

The eyes of the old monk went wide at the mention of the sentimonster and the younger monk shifted where he sat flinching his eyes between the boy and the old monk.

"And you travelled here then." The old man concluded with a nod.

Adrien confirmed with a nod. This was the age of tourism. It was common to see hoards of tourists swarming places that suddenly reached fame through the news and social media. He wandered if the old man really understood what television was.

The old man stroked his beard and looked at the boy deep in thoughts.

"Can you tell me more about those heroes and the battles with the evil beings?" the old man asked.

Adrien was thinking what to say. The whole conversation was lasting for more than an hour and suddenly his tired brain refused to cooperate. He was considering what to say.

"I can show you." Adrien replied. Adrien shifted and his hand felt over his onesie searching for something.

The old man was startled and even raised his hand to stop the boy. The monk who sat on the side waved his head and raised his both hands. Adrien produced his phone from his pocket.

"This device is a smartphone. I will switch it on. There is no signal here but I have a lot of pictures stored in it." and then he continued to talk about Alya and the Ladyblog and what a smartphone was and how it worked and how his battery was only half full and finally he showed the first image to the monk sitting on the side as the old man was too far.

The monk slowly lowered his hands and stared at the phone. Adrien explained what was on the picture then he moved to the next one and the next one. Then he played a short film Alya made of one battle. Then he intentionally skipped the photo of Ladybug and Chat Noir kissing on the rooftop of Montparnasse tower after Oblivio. The young monk stared at the screen that glowed at him in the dark room. His face was a mixture of awe, surprise and disbelief. Adrien was speaking and showing pictures for quite some time before the young monk shifted his eyes away from the screen, but only for a second.

The old man motioned for the two of them to come closer, they both moved and sat on the carpet before the old man and Adrien eagerly showed pictures again repeating the explanations. He was aware that his Chinese was getting worse, but less and less words were needed.

Soon, the younger monk was holding the phone on his own hands scrolling through the pictures. At one moment he stopped and stared at one particular picture. He showed it to the older monk without any words. The older monk looked at it for a long time and then averted his eyes towards Adrien.

"Tell me about Ladybug and Chat Noir." the old man requested simply.

And Adrien told him about the heroes and how nobody knew their identities and that they did not even know the identities of each other. The old man asked about the other heroes again and Adrien continued on how it was Ladybug who gave them miraculous and he did not know who they were, save Chloe. And then he explained everything he could about Chloe without mentioning that he himself had delivered her the comb miraculous as Chat Noir a few times.

The old man kept nodding and stroking his beard motioning for the boy to continue telling his story. And Adrien continued for a while until he abruptly stopped. He remembered Desperada and the failure of him as Aspik. The old man continued to watch him and stroke his beard.

"Give me your hand, young man, so I can see your ring better." the old man requested. The younger monk went to fetch the candle and Adrien obliged. Was this the moment he will loose the ring, will the old man simply take the ring off from his hand. Adrien would let him. He would beg to keep Plagg, he would argue to get back the ring and the little cheese annihilating god that comes along with it in order to defend Paris. Yes, perhaps he was a bit selfish and wanted Plagg for the additional freedom he got in the package, but he would solemnly swear not to use it for another selfish reason ever again, if only he could keep being Chat Noir.

It took a few minutes in silence. They remained motionless in the same pose as if they were posing for a painting. And they would have made a nice Rembrandt in that light.

"So you call yourself Chat Noir." the old man concluded while he kept holding his hand.

Adrien gulped. He remembered it quite vividly he was supposed to give up on his miraculous if his identity was revealed. His eyes were practically begging the old man not to take his ring and Plagg away. The old man blinked a few times.

"Tell me more about that girl you travelled with." the old man said as if re-considering the question once he started to speak and let go of his hand.

Adrien sighed, and then smiled. He was relieved that the ring stayed on his hand, and the subject has changed and what a nice subject it was. The gentle smile never left his face as he spoke about Marinette. The old man nodded to each sentence and studied the boy's face. The younger monk smiled observing the boy from the side while he would look at the phone screen from time to time.

"And now you tell me how do you feel about Ladybug." the old man repeated the same question from before but now it was merely phrased differently. Both monks understood by then that the boy in front of them was oblivious of his own feelings. And, consequently, there was little reason to believe he was able to comprehend the feelings of others.

"I love her. She is my partner and my friend. And I would like her to be more. But, she likes some other boy." Adrien admitted without hesitation. Both monks gave him a puzzled look.

"But you do not know who she is?" the old man pushed further. "You have no idea?"

"No" Adrien waved his head.

"And the girl you travelled with? How do you feel about her?" the old man observed the boy carefully.

"I love her as a friend. She is my friend." Adrien repeated, as if he had to persuade himself too. He had not stopped once in the last few days to reconsider that notion. "She wielded the Mouse miraculous once." Adrien smiled. "Unfortunately, as Chat Noir, I saw her de-transform and learned her identity, so Ladybug said that was a one time thing, that she would never wield a miraculous again." The two monks raised their eyebrows at the story but did not interrupt with any questions.

"So what would be more than a partner and a friend?" Asked the old man stroking his beard again.

"A girlfriend." Adrien whispered. At that point he wandered if that would indeed be an upgrade in the relationship. There were so many girls offering to be his girlfriends without even knowing him at all or knowing his artificial persona created by his father. Perhaps being a true friend and a partner meant more than being a boyfriend or a girlfriend.

"A wife?" the old man asked seeming a bit puzzled by the answer the boy just returned.

"Um, I am too young to be legally married, and she is too." Adrien explained awkwardly how these things are done these days, as much as he understood anyway.

The old man and the young monk exchanged a long look between themselves. They let the boy ramble while they were concerned by their next move.

"What are you ready to give up to keep this?" the old man asked slowly stressing every word.

"I would do anything to protect her, to protect Ladybug, and to protect the civilians and other heroes." he replied. He hoped his desire to keep the miraculous so he could keep the freedom it gave him was not so obvious because he considered it a bit selfish reason to hold on to Plagg.

"I would die for her." Adrien added. "I have died for her." He spoke more quietly. "She brought me back." he smiled.

The old man nodded and asked for the phone again. Then he showed Adrien the picture with the kiss. Adrien explained him what he knew about that particular akuma.

"So you won even though you lost your memory." The old man told himself.

"Yes, as far as I know, I do not remember, and Ladybug doesn't remember either." Adrien shrugged.

"Are you willing to complete your training here in the next seven years." the monk asked.

"Seven years." Adrien replied quietly. It was roughly half his life. It seemed forever. He might give up his miraculous and come back to Marinette. The thought of the girl made him warm.

"Otherwise, you can give up your miraculous and any memory of holding it." the old man warned.

To give up on the memory of his lady. Never. But then, he might want to do just that, and go after Marinette. He could do that.

"But I would remember this voyage and how I got here." Adrien asked.

The old man waved his head. "No, you arrived here because you are Chat Noir."

"I would forget about Marinette?" Adrien asked desperately.

The old man nodded. It was absolutely necessary for the boy to forget everything about the girl.

"Then I want to complete my training." Adrien resolved. He would rather live with the memories than forget everything and go back to the Agreste mansion. Seven years was not forever. He will look for her after he completes his training. At least to explain her what happened. He owed her at least that.

"Very well, you will be taken back to get some more sleep before the morning." the old man concluded.

The young monk and Adrien got up and Adrien followed him out of the room and down the stairs and a hallway to the large room and his sleeping bag. The sleeping bag was empty.


	22. Chapter 22 - The Talk With Marinette

The talk with Marinette

"You have arrived." the woman on the side spoke, in French, with a weird accent but the girl understood. It was the same voice that told Marinette and Adrien to go to rest last night.

Marinette gave a surprised look to the young monk and then turned to the older woman again and nodded. She clutched to the cloth bag on her chest the whole time, and at the moment the old woman glanced at the cloth bag, she fastened her grip even more, her knuckles were probably white.

The old woman nodded again. Marinette slowly loosened the grip she had on the box then she slowly lowered her hands and put the box carefully on the carpet in front of her.

"Tell us about you and where you come from." the younger monk asked. And Marinette talked and talked, the younger monk nodded and stopped her from time to time to say something in Chinese to the older woman. She was translating and re-telling her story. The older woman would then motion for Marinette to continue, so she did.

"Now tell us about your journey here." the woman asked. Marinette told her story, but she was interrupted with questions very often. She had to explain what the airplane was and many other different things. At one point she took out her phone and started to explain what that was.

After a while, the two women asked her about magical villains and heroes and Marinette told them about Ladybug and Chat Noir and all the other temporary heroes (and all in third person point of view) and then more about Hawk Moth and Mayura and the monsters they created and how they were defeated and cleansed. She kept using the term how Ladybug rescued the akumatized victim and each time the younger woman would widen her eyes, stopped her and spoke to the older woman.

Marinette was often rambling about the different akumas. When asked how she knew all that, Marinette explained what the internet was, and Alya and Ladyblog and was not exactly sure the two women were following what she was talking about. Then she summarized how the information travel much faster these days and the two women seemed satisfied.

The next question was about the identities, and Marinette told the story as much as she could without revealing herself, which was awkward and confusing. She told about Chloe and stressed many times that Ladybug and Chat Noir do not know the identities of each other.

"Tell us about the boy you travelled with." the young woman asked.

Marinette blushed. She took a deep breath and admitted she loved Adrien. She explained they were friends and how they travelled there. And then she went on and on about Adrien, she spoke so much that the younger woman stopped her by raising both of her hands with a wide smile. The younger woman gave much briefer explanation to the older one who also smiled in return.

"How do you feel about Chat Noir?" the young woman asked.

Marinette was puzzled for a moment.

"I um, he rescued me from akuma several times and I even helped him with one who called himself Evilustrator." and then she continued to ramble about Nathaniel and how he got akumatized and the young monk stopped her again to translate.

"Is that all?" the older woman asked in Chinese, but Marinette understood the question and nodded at first. Then she changed her mind, waved her head and sighed.

Somewhere in this temple, there is Chat Noir having such an interview, or perhaps he had it already while she was sleeping, so Marinette admitted how she told Chat Noir she loved him once, without actually explaining why she said it, and then she told the story about the whole Weredad incident.

"So, Chat Noir refused to have a relationship with a civilian?" the younger woman asked without a prompt from the older one and Marinette nodded.

"He also said he loved Ladybug." Marinette added.

"And does she love him back?" the older woman asked slowly.

Marinette opened her eyes wide.

"They are not in a romantic relationship." Marinette replied quickly waving her head. It seemed that the older woman understood the answer even before it was translated. "They are friends and partners. The whole media and public is making speculations about them being a couple. They want them to be a couple. But I am certain they are not. It would be irresponsible, they have a duty to fulfil."

The older woman gave the girl an understanding look and repeated the question.

Marinette was baffled. She stayed silent staring at the woman.

"Okay, tell me again about your parents, they love each other, don't they?" the younger monk asked after a long discussion with the older monk.

"Yes, they love each other, they would do anything for each other, they are each other's best friends and partners at work and at home." Marinette explained cheerfully with a spark in her eyes.

The young monk gave her a satisfied smile and turned to translate.

Then her own words echoed in her head as the young monk was giving far longer speech than Marinette actually have spoken. Her parents were best friends and partners, okay at one point there was romance, there still was, but it was not the most important thing. She just admitted to herself that yes, she was in fact in love with Chat Noir. She may not have felt attracted to him nor had excessive romantic wishes as she did with Adrien, but she knew then that she loved him.

The two monks were having a slow discussion giving a lot of thought as if they were not sure how to proceed further. They also observed Marinette very carefully and noticed every change in the expression on her face. Apparently, they were satisfied with the result.

"How did you get those earrings?" The young monk asked.

"I found a box in my room. They were given to me." Marinette answered quickly but carefully. She was contemplating the answer on the was to the temple and concluded that particular formulation would be the best.

"By whom." the young woman continued.

"Master Fu." Marinette answered simply. Those words meant nothing to anyone who did not already know.

The two women looked at each other and nodded.

"So, it was given to you." the older woman concluded. Marinette nodded in understanding, although she was not entirely sure she caught the whole meaning. It might have been due to odd and a bit old French the woman who translated was using, and Marinette told herself she imagined there was more meaning in those words that was actually said.

"And you call yourself Ladybug." both women spoke at the same time.

Marinette felt her stomach tie into a knot. She has given away her identity. She felt like a failure. But she could not lie, not then and there. She felt as if it was time to tell the truth. She sighed and decided to accept her faith, whatever it was. She would have to give up Tikki. She would probably have to make the same sacrifice Master Fu did. She did not want to lose the memories. She cherished them too much. She understood the bravery of Master Fu when he did his own sacrifice.

There was a long moment of silence. The two women stared at Marinette while she switched between looking them in the eyes. Her eyes escaped to the wrapped box before her, just once and briefly.

"How is Master Fu?" the old woman asked.

And Marinette told them. She started at the end, but then she continued from the beginning. She cried through part of the story, but then she collected herself and continued. She was not interrupted once until she reached the end of it.

The young monk translated slowly and carefully and from time to time asked Marinette if she could confirm that she understood everything correctly.

"You have given away the miraculous to the temporary heroes and you got them back." the young woman asked.

Marinette confirmed. She explained how she had given the miraculous and to whom and why and that she had given the Snake miraculous to Adrien, but it did not work out.

"And Master Fu passed the miracle box to you." the woman continued.

Marinette nodded and confirmed.

"And you have brought it here."

Marinette confirmed.

"Can we see it?" it was a request, not a demand.

Marinette hesitated. She was revealed both as Ladybug and as a Guardian, and she brought the box into this room, but she was still not sure if she should just open it.

"Master Fu never finished his training here to become the guardian." the young woman translated what the older woman have said. "It was not his to give."

"He did the best he could." Marinette shrugged. It was not the selfish reasons that kept her from opening the box right then and there, she was just not sure it was the right thing to do.

"Yes he did." the older woman confirmed with encouraging look and gentle smile. "And you came here willingly and in peace."

"There was also a book. He, we learned from it." Marinette switched the subject and explained about the book including the fact she returned it to Adrien's father. She had to stop many times as the young woman translated and answer many questions after that. She even explained how she suspected him to be Hawk Moth but decided against it because Gabriel got akumatized. After the story was finished, the two monks exchanged a long look between them before they continued.

"Please, can we see the box?" they repeated their request.

And Marinette pulled the box out.

"Can you open it?" came the next request.

Marinette brought the box closer to the older woman while the young monk took the candle. She opened the box and explained how she wore all the miraculous when she was Multimouse and what she did to defeat Kwamibuster.

That story took a long time to tell as she had to repeat and confirm many parts. Yes, their kwami were taken, yes Master Fu allowed her to take all the miraculous left and then how she defeated Kwamibuster and finally how she tricked Chat Noir to believe Marinette could not possibly be Ladybug.

The two women even laughed at certain parts but continued to make questions and ask Marinette to explain. And yes, she also explained what was a banana.

Finally she also told them about taking kwami for a walk and how she learned many things from them but she knew there are things kwami did not know.

"Fu never became the guardian, he actually failed the test when the temple got destroyed. You want to become the guardian of the miraculous?" was the question she received once finished with her story.

Marinette gave it one more short consideration, if she was to give up, it was time, right then.

She nodded.

"Yes, I would like to learn." She confirmed.

"And what are you ready to give up for that? What are you ready to give up to continue being Ladybug and to be the next guardian?"

Marinette admitted with tears in her eyes how she already gave up pursuing Adrien (to the utter amazement of the two monks and she had to repeat that yes she had, in fact, travelled there with the same boy) and how she knew that it might mean giving up on her career and her dreams and even distancing herself from her parents, but she managed to juggle all those duties so far.

"It must have put a lot of strain on you. You must be really tired." the understanding voice of the young monk soothed her.

She mustered her most determined look.

"I can do it." She said looking them in the eyes, first the young one and then the old one when the young one translated her words.

The old monk nodded in understanding.

"Very well, you will be taken back to get some more sleep before the morning. We will take care of the miracle box. I was the guardian while Fu was having his training." the old woman concluded.

The young monk and Marinette got up went out of the room and down the stairs and a hallway to the large room and the sleeping bag. Marinette opened the sleeping bag, placed herself next to Adrien and zipped it back up.

The monk turned around, she nodded to another monk who was watching from the centre of the large room and left back through the same door she entered.

Adrien wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer. She closed her eyes and in a few deep breaths the exhaustion overruled the stress and she fell asleep.

Adrien finally relaxed, he kept Plagg and Marinette was back. Why was she gone for so long? The boy contemplated for a short while. Well, he was asked many questions before they got to the part revealing he was Chat Noir and Marinette did not speak Chinese, so it took her much longer. Yes, that was the reason. For sure.

Note: at the time the temple disappeared, France had colonies in that part of the world and it is entirely plausible that some monks might have come from those colonies.


	23. Chapter 23 - The Monks Had a Busy Night

The monks had a busy night

Tenzin → teacher, the old man monk

Dorje → invincible, the young monk who opened the door and was present at the talk with Adrien

Dolma → goddess the old woman monk

Pema → flower, the young woman monk who translated for Marinette

The monks had a busy night, before as well as after the interviews.

At first, the two older monks met and nodded to each other with respect.

"My respect Tenzin." The old woman greeted the old man expressed her satisfaction for getting the miracle box back.

"My respect Dolma, as I understand, we met two decent wielders as the boy showed immense trust in me and Dorje." the old man concluded showing his young coleague. When the woman who lead Marinette back to sleep returned the conversation became far less solemn and far more urgent.

"We are to assemble now. Have you sent for the others Pema?" Dolma asked the younger woman and she nodded in confirmation. The two women concluded that the matter is urgent and they should summon all the monks but two, and those two should stay and observe the two teens.

They met in the large room where they had their meals and lit up a few candles.

"They were the first to arrive, the two wielders." Dorje stated "They came willingly, on their own and in peace."

"We made a mistake by summoning them up at the same time." Pema waved her head "They kept their identity a secret even from each other."

"And even after they entered the temple!" Dorje replied stressing every word, then he continued more defensively. "But they are so connected, we thought they knew."

"I found them together in front of the miraculous mosaic." Pema was annoyed, mostly with herself. "Besides, they share their sleeping bag, they are impossible to separate."

"The girl wields the miraculous of the Ladybug and she has brought the lost miracle box with her." Dolma announced solemnly. The reaction was complete silence. Several monks nodded after a few moments, but many simply stared at the old monk.

Then the old woman uncovered the miracle box. The room was dark, lit up only by few candles. But everyone recognized it. It was the miracle box that was missing after the temple got restored. For the monks, they felt like Fu disappeared only slightly more than a month ago, although they knew it was 175 years ago. He was the only student that went missing after the temple got restored. They all remembered the chaos and the flames from before, but it was the Chinese government officials who explained them how many years have passed.

"Why we did not take their miraculous from them?" one of the monks from the audience, who was silent until then, asked.

"No, we decided not to take them, they gave us no reasons for that and we might need them here." the young woman answered.

"They were given the miraculous by Fu." Dolma continued. There were several gasps from the audience as a reaction to that statement. "they are wielding them in the time of need." These words were followed by more hassle from the audience.

"There are two miraculous unaccounted for, the peacock and the butterfly, and their wielders are using them to do evil things, they are creating sentimonsters and akumas." the old woman explained.

"Why? Is there a war going on?" one of the monks asked.

"This is not about a war, apparently, they want to take the Ladybug and Chat Noir miraculous, not to win territory or power." the old woman explained.

"But that is just the same!" one of the monks argued.

"How did they know about the temple, did Fu tell them to come here?" was the next question.

"Apparently not, they somehow concluded on their own what to do, they learned that the temple was restored on something called television that everyone could see." the old woman, Dolma, explained.

"So that means that the wielders of the peacock and the butterfly miraculous also know about the temple." the old monk Tenzin nodded while stroking his beard.

"Yes" several monks confirmed.

"And they may be on their way over here." the old man continued deep in thought.

"Yes, they probably already are." the young woman continued slowly.

"And we know who they are." the old woman gave a small smile while her eyes radiated pride and wisdom.

"How? Who?" the questions from the audience were coming as a choir.

"The boy's father. And the woman must be his mother or someone else close to his father. They have the book." the old woman aired superiority.

"The boy has stolen it from his father, he did not know what that was." Tenzin spoke.

"The girl returned in order to get the boy back to school." Dolma added.

"But they are on their way here, the boy told us about his father and his assistant." Dorje complained.

"Exactly." the two old monks confirmed.

"We do not have much time, then." the old man concluded.

"Therefore, we leave the miraculous with them. We did not risk to separate them from their kwami too." the old woman nodded.

"Can they do it?" one of the voices asked.

"Are they ready?" another added.

"Because, if the boy does not understand that the villain is his own father." third one cut in.

"The boy does not understand his own feelings. He is not able to recognize Ladybug even when standing next to her in this temple." The old monk Tenzin waved his head. "And yet, they have successfully fought the holders of the butterfly and the peacock miraculous in person and all the monsters they have created. And the only training he received were a few conversations with Fu. He did many fights with only brief instructions from his kwami. Plagg was good as always" Tenzin smiled knowingly.

"We have seen their fights." Dorje added. This was met by a reaction of disbelief from the monks. "They have some device that shows you what happened." Dorje smiled proud of the new knowledge and excited by what he saw. "We will ask more about it in the morning."

"You should know they are perfectly synchronised and work as one." the old man smiled remembering some of the pictures he saw.

"They are the ones who brought us back." the old woman, Dolma, nodded her head thoughtfully. "It was them who brought us back." Then she looked at the other monks. "It is obvious they are both clever, able, willing and resourceful. But they can't even comprehend their own emotions nor recognize each other."

"She can, with the right guidance." Pema countered.

"Perhaps the temple can not prevent the hiding magic any more?" one of the voices from the audience asked.

"Perhaps Tikki and Plagg grew stronger?" another inquired.

"We knew them the moment they stood in front of the gates to the temple." Dorje spoke while several other monks nodded in affirmation.

"Correct. So it works for us." one monk concluded and many other nodded. They could all feel the presence of a miraculous wielder last night at dinner and could recognize who they were once they looked at them straight into their eyes.

"Why can't they see it?" another monk wandered half in amazement half annoyed. "Once they get to the temple grounds, they were supposed to recognize each other as a wielder."

"They were told that they would lose their miraculous if they revealed their identity or learn the identity of the other." the young woman, Pema, explained.

"Yes, that is something that Fu could teach them." Tenzin raised his eyes from the spot in front of him he was staring at. "So they are fooling themselves then, to keep the miraculous." the old monk concluded.

"Fu never completed the training to be the guardian." another monk reminded everyone present "He could not have taught them any better."

"And the kwami would not advise them to go against the will of the guardian." Pema added waving her head.

"Plagg might" there was a mischievous glint in the eyes of the old man.

"Tikki would have told the girl that it is her decision to make." the old woman warned.

"Have we revealed them to each other?" the old man asked.

"Apparently, they are extremely good at fooling themselves and each other. She tricked the superhero him to think that she could not possibly be Ladybug." Dolma smiled proudly. "And she thinks the boy was summoned because she gave him a temporary miraculous once."

"You are right." The old man smiled. "And the boy thinks she was summoned because of that same trick and that she wielded only the Mouse miraculous once."

"He loves her and has the complete faith in her. He has admitted that sometimes his feelings get in the way. But he has sacrificed himself more than once to shield her and save her." Dorje added.

"They work as a true wielders of the Ladybug and black cat miraculous." Tenzin concluded.

"I know why they can't recognize each other." Pema exclaimed. "The magic allows us to recognize wielders. He knows she wielded the Mouse miracoulous, she knows he wielded the Snake miracoulous."

"So they do recognize each other as miracoulous wielders." the old man stroked his beard.

"Just not the right one." The old woman waved her head.

There were several noises of frustration coming from the other monks. Then, a long moment of silence followed when everyone contemplated the information they have just received.

"She was named as the new Guardian by Fu." the old woman explained nodding her head slowly.

"And she brought the box here on her own." Pema added "I think she did not bring it to us to leave it, but she gave it to us when we asked."

There was chatter of approval in the group of monks listening to the conversation.

"She used the miraculous from the box to get temporary wielders. She wore all the miraculous from the box, save three, once. Of course Fu chose her." Pema continued to account for everything Marinette did with the miraculous and the kwami.

At that moment, several monks started to complain about Fu allowing something like that. That was irresponsible. That should have drained the wielder. She was obviously careless or uneducated or both.

"She might have been a better choice than Fu himself." the old woman raised her voice a bit to stop the mumbling of the monks.

"She is talking to kwami each evening to learn from them." the young monk spoke with a smile but got several gasps of disbelief in return.

"That might be the same as if you ask the children how to take care for them." one monk smiled

"Or when they want to go to bed." another added.

"Or what they want to eat. "

"and what they want to do."

"She is collecting stories about the previous wielders from the kwami." the old woman smiled. "She is good."

"Except from Plagg." the old man smiled "She cant question Plagg, Nooroo and Duusuu.".

"They actually tell her about the previous wielders?" there was a question asked in incredulous tone. The old woman nodded in confirmation.

"They are operating on the short timer in the battles and they still win." the old man switched the subject of the conversation back to the more pressing issue. "And Chat Noir has used only Cataclysm." he added a bit saddened. "It seems Plagg is still able to give him only that power."

"She restores everything after each battle. This is how we were brought back." the old woman wanted to stress it again. "And now she is acting as the new guardian."

"That is too much." several people concluded at once.

"They were not trained." others complained.

"They are not the first untrained wielders, but they are very successful." Dolma warned. "They were summoned in the time of need and they responded."

"But to have an untrained guardian." another complaint arrived.

"They needed help from more heroes." Pema explained. "She did the job well, she has chosen the temporary wielders."

"They will need it when they return." Dorje added.

"Could they share the duty? It has been a long time, but they would not be the first." Tenzin proposed.

"You know what would have to happen for that." the old woman sighed.

"They already share everything else." Dorje smiled knowingly.

"The miracle box is with me now." The old woman continued. "It is safe to say we have their trust and we should trust them to protect us."

"We should talk to their kwami." The old man looked at the old woman. "I know it is risky, but you know it has to be done. And the longer we wait, the bigger the risk."

"It shall be done." Dolma stated solemnly.


	24. Chapter 24 - It Is Time to Wake Them Up

It is time to wake them up

Meanwhile, Adrien and Marinette were constantly observed by different monks. Both slept peacefully, exhausted physically by the long walk from the day before and mentally by the conversations they had during the night.

"They do not know about each other." one monk whispered to the other. Both waved their heads. "Masters can't believe it, but it is the truth." The other smiled.

"How is it possible? The magic that clouds their minds and prevents them from their identities being discovered should not be working in the temple!"

"They should have realized the moment they stepped through the gates." the monk smiled.

"Their kwami might have become more powerful." there was concern in their eyes.

"The boy is not only oblivious, he has persuaded himself into things." the monk waved his heads.

"She trusts him completely." they both smiled.

"And he trusts her." another added.

"We should examine the kwami." the third monk, Pema, told them when she arrived.

Then Pema approached closer to the sleeping teens. As she stood by their feet, she sensed the peaceful sleep and how their peace spread an aura around. She took in a deep breath, this had to be done.

"Plagg, Tikki" the woman called quietly.

The two kwami reluctantly phased out through the sleeping bag. Tikki raised all the way to the woman's face and bowed silently. He blue eyes pleaded to stay whit her chosen. Plagg hovered above his chosen, about half a metre in the distance, his green eyes glowed in the dark and reflected his dissatisfaction from both being awake and being taken away from his chosen.

The woman took them in her hands.

"You will have to move with me, no floating around in the temple for now." the woman spoke quietly as she took the two kwami and took them away. Once she was in the corridor, she added "And, don't give me that face Plagg, I know you wandered off from your chosen on your own and caused trouble."

"It is time to wake them up." Dorje whispered to the two monks who watched the two teens.

"They already are." one of the monks replied with a firm nod.

To tell the truth, both Adrien and Marinette were only able to fall asleep due to pure exhaustion. They slept peacefully and whatever they dreamed of placed an expression of peace on their faces.

At one moment during the morning, Marinette gained consciousness but her eyes stayed closed. She heard sounds of students waking up, talking and going through their things. She felt Adrien next to her and it was comforting as well as warm. She felt relieved. At least she knew he was safe and back. Since she could not have Chat Noir to be by her side through this whole ordeal, she was glad she at least had Adrien. A week ago she would have been mortified and flustered and probably squeaked and screamed, but she herself has changed. She was sure she still loved him, but now she was his friend more than anything. (And she never wandered if they are indeed 'just friends' any more.) And, for the first time, being his friend like this was more important than being his girlfriend, going on dates, getting dressed up and getting roses from him.

Her thoughts wandered to the conversation that took place during the night. She did not have the miracle box any more. If she was about to return to Paris without it, there would be no additional heroes to help her and Chat. At least, they allowed her to keep the earrings. Her stay in the temple had just begun and there was plenty of time to lose them too. The monks would probably insist on her completing some kind of training. But what it could be? It could take years. How is she going to explain her absence to her parents and her friends? It is not like she could use one of her "I needed to go to the toilet" or "I could not unlock myself from the toilet." excuses. And who would defend Paris during that time?

She wanted to ask Adrien about what they asked him, but how to do that without revealing her identity. For sure, they might have been finished quickly once they learned he wielded the Snake miraculous only once and that was it.

But where was Chat Noir? As much as she was anxious about possible reveal she hoped it would take place in the temple and somehow everything will be okay, just like Tikki often said it would be. But they did not meet, she could not know for certain that Chat even reached the temple. Where was that damn cat? He was probably chasing some other girl, the flirt he was. She smiled at her thought.

Adrien heard noises that students were making. The quiet hassle for young people getting up, whining about their aching feet and backs, rustling through their backpacks, walking around and talking about anything. Somewhere in the distance, someone was directing them to the area where they could wash up and then go to have their breakfast.

He felt Marinette in his arms changed the rhythm of her breathing but she did not move. She is probably still sleeping. He smiled and kept his eyes closed. They had a busy night. She stayed on her meeting longer than he did. He could not say how much longer. Every minute he missed her felt like an hour and he felt so relieved and elated when she returned. She should get as much sleep as she could, so he would remain there, next to her, holding her, just to keep her warm and asleep. She needed that.

'She was amazing as Multimouse.' Adrien remembered how he described her to the two monks last night. 'Ladybug and me both lost our kwami and she saved the day.' Both monks smiled knowingly and with approval. Did that mean that the monks would keep her and possibly train her to be a miraculous wielder? A permanent one? Would Ladybug agree to that? It was her who said Marinette would not get to wield a miraculous again. Adrien decided to ask Ladybug to reconsider that decision. She was extremely useful. Yes, that was the reason, nothing else.

Adrien imagined how he would ask Marinette about the conversation she had, but he realized he can't reveal he knew she was Multimouse without revealing himself as Chat Noir. It was frustrating, the curiosity in him was pushing him to ask her. He would have to find a way.

Where was his lady? She probably had an interview of her own last night. She was a guardian now, it must have taken her considerably longer to explain everything. He felt the ring on his hand. They let him keep his ring. He has revealed his identity somehow, but he has not failed his lady. He will be able to keep Plagg and fight villains by her side. What if she failed somehow? What if her miraculous was taken away from her? Would he never learn her identity, never meet her civilian self, never see her again? The thought made him feel cold shivers down his spine and he moved a little. But no, his lady never failed, she merely needed a little encouragement sometimes and she made mistakes, but she never failed. Right?

Marinette stirred in his arms.

"It is time to wake up." a woman spoke quietly and gently standing next to their feet.

They both sat up rubbing their eyes.

"You can both keep these clothes." the woman smiled looking at Adrien in his black onesie and Marinette in her red. "And go wash up, you will be given your breakfast after that."

They were both escorted to a room where they were given a small piece of cloth and a small bucket of water to wipe themselves up. They could use curtains to allocate some space for privacy.

Adrien was used to Plagg being uncharacteristically calm since they arrived to the temple and did not bother to panic before, but once he took off his clothes, he did. Plagg was gone. And he remembered rather vividly that he left the conversation last night with the kwami hanging on his undershirt below the onesie. It was possible that Plagg has phased out of his pyjama and the sleeping bag into his backpack and the stash of cheese stored there. Yeah, that was definitely what the little cheese eating glutton would do. Adrien smiled, he should have expected that.

Marinette, on the other hand, was disturbed by the absence of her kwami as soon as she became aware of it. She hoped Tikki was just hiding somewhere in her clothes. The girl pulled the curtain and searched her clothes frantically.

"Tikki" she whispered once into her onesie. There was no response, only the red cloth hanging from her hands. Have the monks changed their mind and took her miraculous from her? She felt her ears. The earrings were still there. Marinette sighed, feeling slightly reassured. Would Tikki phase out to find some cookies in the middle of the night and then she was not able to return because they were watched? Perhaps. It was not typical for Tikki, but it was possible. It was also highly probable she chased Plagg around the temple.

The water was cold, the air was not any warmer either and they were finished rather quickly.

"Um, can I get something from my backpack before breakfast?" Adrien asked as soon as he was finished.

Both monks waved their heads.

"Okay, it can wait until after breakfast then." Adrien sighed.

Marinette stumbled out of her space as she got slightly tangled in the curtain in the process. Adrien smiled gently. She was so funny when she did that. He reached for her.

"I um, have forgot to take um, something from my purse." Marinette watched Pema with her eyes wide and begging to understand.

"I understand your concern." the woman spoke slowly in French and Adrien gaped. "But it will have to wait until after the breakfast."

They went down a corridor to the same room with the carpets on the floor where they had their dinner.

The two teens got their bowls of rice and cups of tea and were sat next to each other at an end of a long row of students. The two monks sat at the opposite side.

They ate in complete silence. The kids would occasionally spared a glance towards each other and then to the monks before them and then continued to eat without saying a word. The two monks barely removed their eyes from the two kids while they ate.

Marinette ate slowly, her eyes escaped to the side and watched Adrien carefully through her lashes and her bangs that hung over her face, but each time she wanted to speak, she would check the two monks sitting on the opposite side. Once she realized she was watched, she would give up, she would take another mouthful of her food and sipped on her tea. But then, after a few moments, she remembered how she wanted to talk to him and the whole process would start over.

Adrien had no clue he was this hungry. He stuffed the food in his mouth and barely chewed before he swallowed. The empty space in his stomach was filling up slowly. But he was finished with his bowl already. He was used to not feeling full after a meal. Although Marinette's parents have revealed to him it is possible to fill a stomach of a growing teenage boy, he spent so many years on a model's diet, that he was well experienced in surviving on less. He reached for his tea when one of the monks motioned to another and a fresh bowl with rice appeared in front of him. He smiled and nodded gratefully. This time he took his time and ate slowly, he remembered how he wanted to talk to Marinette and shifted in his place slightly. She was eating, he glanced at the two monks before him. He was being watched. Of course, they knew and he should not reveal his identity to anyone on his own.

They were finished with their breakfast by the time their eyes finally met. Marinette glanced through her bangs while Adrien looked to the side. Once their eyes met they could not look away, glued to each other they turned their heads to look to their partner straight on. The green eyes met blue and in the daylight, there was finally so much more to see. They stared at each other for a while, their eyes examining what they saw and their brains slowly processing. They fought the obvious conclusion in their minds, they dismissed it, they pushed it back, and yet it would come back again and again. They stared at each other silently, for no words could be spoken, nothing could be told. They were sitting in a room full of people. They realized that if they acknowledge their sudden realisation, they would also reveal themselves. But the other knew, they knew that it was their parter who sat right next to them, and they knew. There was no need to say anything.

The two monks spared a glance at each other and exchanged on firm nod.

"Now that you are awake." the woman spoke gently with a smile and her eyes revealed just how much she meant by her words. "We should proceed. There might be too little time."


	25. Chapter 25 - The Reveal

Comment: just to say thanks to all of you leaving comments and reviews. The whole reveal part is lengthy so it got divided into edible chunks. Be patient my young padawan :)

The Reveal

Adrien and Marinette got up to their feet in silence, sparing glances at each other at any given moment. They followed the two monks through a passage in the wall hidden behind one tapestry, after several turns they reached narrow stairs and climbed.

Marinette felt her brain wander off. For a millisecond she was in the narrow winding corridor and in the next she was having a memory flash of any of her interactions with both Chat and Adrien, both as Ladybug and as Marinette. He flirted with her. Chat Noir. Adrien. Flirted. With. Her. She blushed. She shared a sleeping bag with Chat Noir? The narrow corridor upstairs winded in the darkness and they walked forward feeling the walls on the sides with their hands. Where were they taking them and why? Was she right? Was Adrien really Chat Noir? Was it really that hard to believe? Was she going to lose her miraculous now? The questions were popping up in her head. She felt dizzy and held on to the walls. Sleeping on high altitude can do that to you. Not sleeping, but talking most of the night can do that to you too, at any altitude. Discovering that you love two boys and then they are in fact one person can do that to you too. Was she really that blind? Alya had called it. She said Adrien was Chat Noir. It was Marinette who refused to even consider the idea. Does this make her inept to be Ladybug? Was she equally unable to defeat Hawk Moth? She spared a glance towards Adrien every now and then between her steps. He looked at her with soft smile, his eyes gentle and careful. He knew. She knew that he knew. But did he know? What did he know. Chat Noir could not possibly think she was Ladybug. She made sure of it. That meant her identity was revealed to a civilian. And why would Adrien be Chat Noir? It was a sudden spur of the moment revelation, but then again, she might be wrong. She probably was. Yeah, she probably was.

Adrien felt a bit dizzy the moment he got on his feet. The blood was busy digesting the breakfast in his stomach and was too lazy to bring sufficient oxygen to his brain. A few deep and quick breaths fixed the issue. He looked at Marinette for as long as he could, from the corner of his eyes, turned to the side, through his eyelashes, through his hair (as he forgot to put the black cap back on). Unfortunately, he had to also watch where he was going, meaning he would glance towards the monks and the narrow corridor. Finally, he decided to follow the wall with his hand and just watch over Marinette without straight on staring at the girl. So, she was his lady. He felt giddy. He felt guilty. He felt stupid (the slight remains of dizziness in his head contributed substantially to that feeling). He finally knew who she was. He hoped he would learn her identity on this journey, he would finally meet her and get to know her as a civilian. And that is exactly what he got. This was not what he expected. He knew her civilian identity. He got to know her much better on their way over here. He used her as his teddy bear and a heating pillow. This same girl has professed her love to him, as Chat Noir, and he had refused her for Ladybug. No wander she never believed his love for her was real! He smiled to him self and looked at her more gently. He wandered if that love confession was a test or just a stunt to hide her identity. Or both. Or maybe, he was wrong and Marinette was not Ladybug? The dizzy spell told him he was probably not able to reach any conclusions right now.

Finally, another tapestry was moved to the side and they got blinded by the light as they entered a room. Both old monks sat on a bench beside the wall, waiting (the same room and the same bench from the last night, Adrien noticed). The four arrivals came to a stop before them and all of them bowed their heads a little as a sign of greeting. Then the four of them sat. Adrien and Marinette sat next to each other while the two younger monks sat on the side.

The silence filled with the sense of anticipation was thick. The two teens stared at the elderly monks and wandered what was going to happen and why were they there.

Adrien glanced around. There were just the six of them. There was no other girl who could have been Ladybug. Or, Ladybug has failed, she had to return the miraculous and she was not Ladybug any more. However, he could not believe that his lady would ever fail, at anything. So she was there. She was definitely there, and there was only one person who could she be. Adrien took a few deep breaths before he finally turned to look at Marinette again in the broad daylight. She had arranged her hair into pigtails. He could see the dark earrings on her ears. They were so familiar. He wore them once, although briefly. He smiled. This girl was so clever she fooled him into thinking that she could never be Ladybug, that Ladybug could be any other girl but her. He had no idea how she did it.

Marinette was processing the information slowly. She had to give up on the miracle box. She was not a guardian any more. Tikki was gone and her hopes that the little red kwami with black spots was merely hiding in a bag of cookies were obviously not the truth. And she saw in Adrien's eyes at breakfast that he knew who she was. She had failed. She had revealed herself to the monks and now to Adrien. This is why both of them were taken up there in that room. She had failed. Adrien's eyes were so wild and warm and green just like Chat Noir had. And she did not find Chat yet. He would never give up on his miraculous. There was only one solution to that puzzle and she knew it she just refused to believe it. Yet. She felt Adrien turn towards her so she slowly took a few breaths and turned towards him.

He smiled, such gentle and encouraging smile. His hair was wild his eyes smiled to her encouragingly. She understood. She was looking at Chat Noir. He lifted one arm and put his hand on her shoulder. Her lips quivered and she took one shaking breath. With one swift move, he turned her slightly and put both of his hands on her shoulders. She looked at him. It was him. Adrien was Chat Noir. How and why and when and all other questions that accumulated in her head were put aside. Her vision became blur and a tear escaped her eye.

Adrien pulled her closer and hugged her the moment he saw a tear escape her eye. They were kneeling like that holding each other, until she finally collected herself enough to speak. She had to tell him.

"I have returned the miracle box." Marinette smiled. "I had to. I have failed." she looked down. She was not sure what was coming next. This was different than any battle she had fought so far. She was not sure what the victory was. She did not see the monks as enemies she should fight to get Tikki and the miracle box back. In fact, they might belong there, with them.

"You have not failed. We got here. We are here." Adrien whispered back.

The woman who sat behind Marinette translated quietly.

"I lost Tikki." Marinette continued. Adrien moved his head so that he could see her ears, yes the earrings were still there. He touched one of the earrings with his index finger. He waved his head. He did not believe they actually lost their kwami as long they had their miraculous. He lowered his ring hand and took her own hand into his. Then he lifted both of them up for her to see the ring on his hand.

"You have not. Plagg is not with me. I am sure they are creating havoc somewhere in the temple." Adrien smiled. He could not forget the Kwamibuster incident. That was the moment she fooled him. He did suspect her to be Ladybug then. He felt almost certain. And then she crushed his idea with a proof to the opposite. She fooled him. She had to. He understood.

The old monks on the bench unclasped their hands releasing Tikki and Plagg who wordlessly floated to their chosen.

Well, the old monk has lifted his index finger over his mouth the moment he released Plagg signalling the little black cat like god to stay silent. And Plagg rolled his eyes in response but obeyed. Although, it was killing him, he wanted to speak, he wanted to tease so much, he also wanted to exhale his frustration over everything he had to suffer because of his lovesick wielder. But he vented his frustration to the old monk practically the whole morning so now he was able to stay quiet. For one bit.

Tikki floated happily to her chosen with her blue eyes wide and a sigh of relief. Adrien was there for her and she indeed needed him. The girl had issues (to put it mildly) in verbal communication with the boy, but as the events unfolded, he was able to soothe her differently. And it was not as if she could have told him what was really bothering her. Her wielder did not break and the monks were rather satisfied with her both as Ladybug and as the Guardian. Tikki hugged her wet cheek and that was the moment the girl finally averted her eyes from Adrien.

"Tikki" she whispered with a knot in her throat.

"Plagg" Adrien greeted with a smile on his face.

"You are now given a choice." the old woman Dolma spoke. "You can stay here and complete your training or you can release your memories and leave as civilians."

Both teens turned their attention to the old monks fully and nodded.

"Before you agree, you should know that the usual training lasts for seven years." the old monk Tenzin continued.

"Seven years." Adrien whispered to Marinette. "The training takes seven years."

Marinette gasped. Master Fu had told her about the training, but he also told her she was a fully developed Ladybug. And then again, he never completed his training to be a guardian, did he?

"We used to train them since they were little." the old woman smiled. "You are much older and you have achieved so much already."

"We would take children here to study. Some of them would become artists, other would be administrators, several would train to lead prayers, and some would train to be able to wield the miraculous or become a guardian." the Pema explained slowly. "Then, in the time of need, we could use any of them."

"We have often sent teachers to the other ends of the world to teach and train the wielders when we anticipated the events." the old man continued explaining. Adrien whispered the translation to Marinette and Pema nodded. "Sometimes, we would resort to time travel to train the wielder before the events have unfolded, but that was not always possible."

"But, she has met the wielder of the Rabbit miraculous, she even knows who will wield it, she knows how we anticipated the events." Pema replied to the old man.

"Yes, this time the temple was missing and we could not do it." the old woman smiled. "And yet, these two managed to wield the miraculous and defeat the akumas and sentimonsters and even restore the temple. And us. I see no need to do it now."

Adrien translated to her and Marinette smiled gratefully. So she was not a failure.

"There is much left for you to learn and we do not have much time." Tenzin warned.

"The miracle box will stay with me until you complete your training." Dolma concluded.

"But, what about Paris? Who will protect it while we are here?" Marinette whispered.

"Yeah, we have a job there, sort of." Adrien rubbed the back of his neck with his hand.

"It might be under the attack right now and we would not know." Marinette warned.

"We used to check the notifications on out phones, but there is no signal." Adrien even took out his phone and waved it towards the monks. Dorje nodded in understanding. He played with the device during most of the conversation.

There was a look of concern and confusion exchanged between the monks.

The old man stroked his beard deep in thought.

The old woman sighed in frustration. Yes, there was one more fact to be revealed to the two teens and it was not hers to just say it. Paris was probably safe because those who were attacking it were on their way to the temple. The monks were perfectly sure they knew what was going on.

"I guess we should ask those officials outside to give us what is needed?" Dorje smiled.

"Yes, we are supposed to be trained in these new ways the world works anyway." Pema smiled.


	26. Chapter 26 - The Kwami Talk

The Kwami Talk

Meanwhile … (the event before the reveal but put as a separate chapter)

That night, Pema has retrieved Plagg and Tikki from their sleeping chosen and brought them to the two old monks.

Pema entered a small room where Tenzin waited sitting on the bench.

"Hello Plagg." Tenzin greeted holding out his hands.

Plagg reluctantly floated to cross about half a meter between Pema and Tenzin.

"Hello Master Tenzin." Plagg greeted.

"I feel like it was only yesterday when we talked the last time." Tenzin spoke stroking his beard and smiling with the corners of his lips.

"I would have you know that it was several centuries for me." Plagg huffed and moved his tail nervously.

"I know. I know." Tenzin smiled teasingly. He loved teasing the old grumpy cat-like god. And Plagg obviously knew it. "So you have a new chosen." Tenzin raised his eyebrows.

"Yes, I have and I should be with him right now." Plagg was not in the good mood.

"Well, you know why you are here. I am sure you followed the whole conversation before." Tenzin smirked.

"Nope, I was fast asleep." the little black cat looked away and narrowed his green eyes.

"Plagg." Tenzin smiled.

"I was exhausted from the long and treacherous journey." Plagg exclaimed swinging his tail left and right.

"Plagg." Tenzin waved his head. "Adrien told us about the journey."

"Well, it was still exhausting." Plagg continued being annoyed and looked to the side while he was swinging his tail left and right.

Tenzin raised an eyebrow.

"I had to listen to my chosen being blind about that pigtail girl he travelled with." Plagg switched his eyes to the other side and continued flipping his tail left and right.

"I can understand." Tenzin nodded encouragingly.

"And I had to hear all his silly talk." Plagg rolled his eyes.

"Hm?" Tenzin smirked.

"And all the other girls that hang about him back home in Paris." Plagg continued pretending to be utterly bored.

Tenzin raised both eyebrows. The boy did not mention being popular with girls. Being a supermodel meant nothing.

"I mean, ridiculous, utterly ridiculous." Plagg impersonated Chloe.

Tenzin laughed.

"And all those other girls." Plagg shaken his body as if he is trying to shake off some dirt from him.

Tenzin raised an eyebrow.

"And I had to keep silent! The whole time! It was excruciating!" Plagg released an exasperated sigh.

Tenzin laughed again.

"I am so hungry." Plagg whined.

"Plagg, you never change!" Tenzin produced a piece of cheese and offered it to the hungry glutton who swallowed it in one bite.

Tenzin laughed once more and patted him on the head.

"Now it is better. Much better." Plagg patted his belly.

"Are you telling me that your new chosen is not feeding you properly?" Tenzin raised and eyebrow.

"To be honest, he feeds me more than his own father feeds him." Plagg replied angrily.

"How so?" Tenzin asked, his face a picture of curious old man.

And Plagg told him about the life in the Agreste mansion and his life with Adrien and he _accidentally_ left out a few details when he put his chosen into trouble. Tenzin listened with undivided attention, teasing the old god from time to time and laughing at his antics.

But then, Tenzin asked Plagg how Adrien had stolen his father book. It took some quiet time for Plagg to admit his own role in the event. Then, Tenzin asked Plagg to remember anything he have seen in the safe and Plagg described every object. Tenzin listened carefully and stroked his beard deep in thought. The old man recognized the objects from Plagg's descriptions although Plagg did not know what they were.

"So you like the 'pigtails' girl?" Tenzin smirked.

"She is" Plagg pretended to look for the right word. "Tolerable." Plagg concluded his line of thought.

Tenzin laughed again.

"I just hate that human mushy stuff." Plagg groaned. "She makes my chosen happy although he is too blind to see it."

"There you go Tikki." Pema released Tikki to float into Dolma's hands. The old woman waited patiently on her cushion with her hand held out.

"Hello Master Dolma" Tikki bowed in the old woman's hand.

"Hello Tikki, how very nice to meet you again." Dolma smiled.

"It is nice to meet you too again Master Dolma." Tikki looked with her blue eyes wide. She wandered why she was separated from her chosen. The little goddess knew that the monks were not trained how to deal with the situation like the one they were in, but Tikki and her chosen were in situations they never dealt with all the time and she was a bit concern the monks would meddle too much.

"The time was much longer for you than it was for me." Dolma smiled gently.

"Yes it was." Tikki replied patiently. She was a goddess, the time was irrelevant, she has lived through thousands of human generations.

"What have you been doing during those years?" Dolma asked with a strange tone in her question.

Tikki raised an eyebrow and listed several events where she or her chosen have participated.

"I was dormant in the miracle box for most of the time." Tikki continued. "And Marinette has already told you about my time with her."

"That is true, indeed." Dolma continued.

"I was here, just moments ago, while you questioned her." Tikki continued in uncharacteristically cold voice.

"Well, we would like to hear your point of view." Dolma narrowed her eyes.

Tikki floated in the air and schooled her face in the most pleasant expression she could muster.

"My chosen is the best Ladybug for the task ahead of her. She had won every battle. She learns from her mistakes. She came here willingly and on her own. She has found a way." Tikki spoke solemnly in her high pitched voice.

"But the tone of your voice tells me there is something wrong with her." Dolma insisted.

"There is nothing wrong with her." Tikki narrowed her eyes.

Dolma raised an eyebrow.

"Why have you taken the miracle box away from her?" Tikki floated into the old woman's face with rather stern look in her blue eyes. She made it clear that she would insist on getting an answer.

"She is not a trained guardian." Dolma answered.

"Master Fu trained her and he made her a guardian." Tikki insisted.

"Fu has failed in one of his tests when this temple disappeared, you could hardly call him a master, let alone a guardian." Dolma warned.

"He has learned on his own, and so did she." Tikki insisted.

"Fu has lost the book when the temple was burned down. The next time he was the book was when you and your current chosen retrieved it and brought it to Master Fu." Dolma argued.

"They are both able to fulfil the duties that were passed upon them." Tikki pushed further.

"You can not be the judge of that. They both have to pass the tests." Dolma insisted.

"Well, your tests are stupid." Tikki put her hands on her hips and stared at the old woman.

"You can not be the judge of that either." Dolma finished in low voice.

The conversation was over and the old monk got to her feet and proceeded slowly towards the other room.

"They are very connected to their kwami." Dolma said instead of greeting while she entered the room slowly. "And vice versa, Tikki is strongly connected with her chosen."

"Yes they are." Tenzin nodded back. "We should return the kwami to their chosen."

"They will come over after breakfast. Pema and Dorje will bring them." Dolma gave a nod to the two younger monks as she issued the order. Both old monks waited for the younger ones to bow in greeting and leave before they resumed the conversation.

"You learned more bad news?" Tenzin asked cautiously.

"Not really, except kwami think they can chose and control their wielder." Dolma was uncharacteristically nervous.

"Well, they, can, it is what they do." Tenzin replied with a smirk. His face revealed that it was not the first time the duo had the same conversation.

"But the wielders should control them, they should control their power! Otherwise, they would not need the wielders at all!" the old woman raised her voice.

"I would say the wielders we have here have proven they can control their power, Dolma." Tenzin spoke patiently.

Plagg and Tikki both floated out from their hands and nodded.

Dolma waved her head.

"It is the ability of humans to use the kwami to do evil things that have brought them here." Tikki warned. "It is the ability of humans to seize the complete control over kwami that enables them to create the supervillains."

"All humans sometimes use their powers for selfish reasons. Are you going to tell me your current wielder have never used you to help her with something she should have dealt with on her own, without the help of magical powers?" Dolma nodded to stress her words.

Unable to deny it, because it would have been a lie, Tikki simply lowered her gaze.

"I did not think so." Dolma cut off. "Of course she did it. Everybody does."

"You are asking for perfection. Nobody is perfect." Tenzin warned.

"Besides, I do not want to hear how perfect they are. If we are to teach them anything here, I want to know what is wrong with them." Dolma insisted.

"If you put it that way." Tenzin sighed. It was a trick to make the kwami speak against their chosen.

Plagg and Tikki looked at each other. As much as they could easily find faults with their chosen, they certainly did not find it something that should be corrected. Sometimes you like someone for their flaws, not only their perfection.

"Someone's flaw is another person's virtue." Tikki chirped and put her nose up. "My chosen is the perfect teenage girl." The little red goddess looked at Plagg.

"Well, contrary to you." Plagg looked at Tikki with narrow eyes. "My chosen is a perfect teenage boy." Plagg grinned at Tikki's expression.

Tenzin winked at Plagg.

"Are you telling me he never abused your powers?" Dolma raised her eyebrows at Plagg. Plagg remembered cataclysm on the Adrien ad one Christmas. He lowered his gaze. "I thought so." Dolma exclaimed victoriously.

"We can't interfere with their growing up." Tikki begged. "It is part of the process and you know it." How would the little red goddess with three black spots explained to a Tibetan monk from almost two hundred years ago the reasoning behind stealing Adrien's phone just to remove a message?

"My chosen lives in extremely cold household, practically without any family love, and yet he is able to have love and compassion for others." Plagg groaned. He was annoyed whenever Adrien wasted hours staring at pictures of Ladybug in front of his computer screen(s).

"Hm" Dolma insisted.

Plagg narrowed his eyes. This old babe was not giving up. Okay then, let's give her what she wants.

"Well, there is actually one thing you could fix with my boy." Plagg spoke smoothly. "You see, he has those love problems."

"Plagg no!" Tikki whispered.

"The girls are practically chasing him, but he sort of got it into his head … " Plagg spoke slowly.

"We are not supposed to interfere with that. That is the part of growing up. They have to resolve their feelings on their own." Tikki hissed.

" … that the one he wants does not want him back." Plagg continued smoothly after Tikki finished. "And then he becomes all mushy and gooey eyes and ..."

"And then he feeds you Camembert because you whine." Tikki crossed her arms.

"Well, do you have such problems?" Tenzin asked Tikki with a smile. He enjoyed the whole conversation with a knowing smile. He knew exactly where the problem could be.

"I do. But it will be resolved soon." Tikki looked at Plagg and then at Tenzin. "I am sure there are powers in this temple that will help them both resolve the love issues they have." The knowing look and the tone of her voice said it all. Sooner or later, the temple will allow them to recognize each other. After that they will have to train how to hide it from Nooroo.

Plagg and Tikki were served their food while the two old monks meditated in silence.

"They do have a lot to learn, Sugarcube." Plagg whispered once he estimated it was safe.

"I know they do." Tikki whispered back. "But I do not want them to spend seven years in Tibet."

"My boy could use the time away from his old man." Plagg sighed. Tikki rolled her eyes in return. "But I could not possibly live seven years without Camembert." Plagg snickered.


	27. Chapter 27 - The Teaching Pracitce(s)

The teaching practice (s)

Note: the chapter starts as a third parallel thread, but the threads merge in the first half of the chapter.

The morning had revealed many things.

The students were waking up slowly, tired from yesterday's trek over the plateau, slightly dizzy from sleeping and high altitude and mostly grumpy due to blisters on their feet. Applying any remedy required taking off socks the night before, in the dark. Tired students postponed the effort for the morning when several appalled gasps could be heard whenever a student would reveal particularly wounded feet. Fortunately, they were expected to walk around the temple with bare feet or wearing only socks.

Several monks were walking around the large room, advising students to go to the washing room for their personal morning hygiene. There they could also get some remedy for their wounded feet. The students were expected to participate in making breakfast so those who woke up early were ushered towards the kitchen together with the guides.

Ye woke up and nudged Ling awake. There were no complaints from Ling about the cold this morning. The large room filled with many sleeping students was warmer than the tent they had used the night before. They both got up and got dressed while they commented on the two sleeping teens right next to them. But, when they went to wake them up, a monk approached and waved his hand to stop them.

"Let them have their rest." The monk spoke quietly.

Ling shrugged, Ye smirked and both went to wash before going for breakfast. One of the monks followed them. The monk asked them a few questions about Adrien and Marinette. Ling and Ye were sticking to the same story they placed with the authorities feeling a pang of guilt for lying but also unsure if it was safe to tell the truth.

As the students aggregated in the room where they ate, the purpose of their travel was finally coming to life. Their guide has distributed them among the monks to talk. Once the temple was restored together with its inhabitants, it was important to somehow adjust the monks to the situation. Since the temple was used as a schooling facility, the government officials have chosen to collect student volunteers for the job, both to teach the monks and to learn their old ways as that was a unique opportunity (not to mention that option was the cheapest and fastest to organize).

The students were there to educate the monks on the changes that happened in the last 175 years and what were the current norms. The students were chosen as opposed to the army and the government officials. The first 'lecture' session was organized for the first breakfast (read it as the morning prayer time for the monks) and the hours that followed. They simply sat in the large carpeted room where all the meals were taken and chatted about the modern life with the curious monks.

The subjects varied from one group to another, but there was one common thing to complain. There was no signal and there was no internet. The students could not possibly do anything without that. Finally, they formed small groups where the students would show their phones and stored pictures and messages and complain how they can't communicate without the network.

In the meantime, Adrien and Marinette were brought back to the main room to join the other students for education as it was mandatory for the whole group. They greeted Marinette's cousins and sat next to them. Pema and Dorje stayed close by and watched over them, not so much as to supervise but more to provide guidance. Both teens wanted to talk. Alone. And could not.

The students were supposed to study and document the life of the monks (a once in a lifetime opportunity that was mostly considered as an interesting adventure by the students). Few were excited, most of them were tired from the long travel and walk from the day before. The only thing that kept many of them awake was the frustration that they still have not called home nor posted pictures on social media.

Monks, however, did not need help from modern technology to tell stories, so they did. Each monk would tell several sentences and then the next monk would continue. They talked slowly and solemnly in deep and calm voice, as if they chanted a prayer and often repeated a sentence.

They told stories from ancient mythology of the five elements, where the Azure Dragon of the East represented the wood element, the Vermilion Bird of the South represented the fire element, the White Tiger of the West represented the metal element, the Black Tortoise of the North represented the water element and the fifth element Earth was represented by the Yellow Dragon.

Ling audibly jawed and Ye nudged her with his elbow.

Adrien translated every word to Marinette and she admired his skill. At least she had an excuse to stare at the boy. Adrien concentrated on translating to put his other chaotic thoughts aside. Marinette was Ladybug, the shy and brave girl from his class. Concentrate on the dragons, boy!

Marinette was glad she could stay quiet. Adrien was Chat Noir. She blamed herself for not seeing it before. But, she did not want to know the identity of Chat Noir. Right now, the two boys were the same. Adrien's hair was messy. The skin on his face got darker from the exposure to the sun on the previous days. His eyes were wild and happy ever since they left Paris. His face showed all sorts of expressions, not only the proper schooled types he showed usually, afraid of the public eye.

Sometime, during the speech, several monks closed their eyes. The students were nudging each other and snickering at the monks with their eyes closed. One monk finished and the next one continued without a break.

They told mythological stories of the old days about numerous small kingdoms organized with vast bureaucracy, kings, judges, torturers, minor bureaucrats, recording secretaries, armies and generals as well as harems and concubines. (The mention of the last two were met with stifled laughter.)

The monks looked as if they fell asleep while sitting up, which was understandable, they probably heard the same story many times already.

"Sssh, they are not sleeping, they are meditating." the government official who acted as a guide warned. Students exchanged a few looks and shrugs between themselves and calmed down. They continued to listen to the long and monotonous speech of the monk telling a story.

Adrien leaned over towards Marinette and was practically whispering the translation into her ear. They both giggled at the students antics before turning their attention back to the story the monks were telling.

The next monk told a story of the world pillars and how Gonggong wrecked one of the world pillars and tilted the heaven and earth and caused all the rivers to flow from west to east.

Then, one of the monks meditated particularly well and produced light snoring noises. Few students snickered while other closed their eyes too. Several students were making notes in their notebooks, other would take turn in filming the monks with their mobile phone. Most of them simply struggled to stay awake.

The magical rivers from the mythology were passing equally magical landscapes and included mystical places such as the Dragon gates where fish would swim upstream and jump up the waterfall in order to transform into dragons.

Tired as they were, several students of them fell asleep rather quickly. Their heads slowly nodded down, some of them leaned onto their colleagues.

"Hey, pay attention." the guide called.

"They are meditating. See?" one of the students answered while other students snickered again.

The guide glared at the snickering students and gently nudged the sleeping ones to wake them up.

After that the monks spoke of heroes who invented fire and cooking, writing or building shelters and houses. The heroes were mostly human, but all of them had some animistic traits. They could be partially dragon or a serpent and sometimes made of several animals merged into a human form.

Adrien listened to that part of the story carefully and quietly translated to Marinette. He would keep quiet when the guide was near, but he also received several looks and nods of approval from Pema and Dorje. Marinette listened carefully to both Adrien and the monk who talked very slowly. She could recognize the descriptions of the past miraculous wielders. They both exchanged looks that revealed to each other what they were thinking. Adrien smiled. This history lesson finally did not look like a complete waste of time.

The story telling continued with the consequences of Gonggong tilting the earth and the sky. The sky pored so much rain that it caused the great flood. But that was not the only problem, it also caused fires and other devastating events. However, humans suffered from the flood for years that was remedied only when master Yu intervened and the old rulers were replaced by the new ones.

"This is as if we are back in Ms Bustier class." Marinette whispered to Adrien in one of the breaks.

"Dear students, please open your book to the page 324 and read that chapter." Adrien smirked after he impersonated their history teacher.

"Well, perhaps this is more interesting." Marinette smiled (and the fact that Adrien was literally talking to her during the whole 'class' probably helped).

"I think this story means Tikki did not always restore everything as it was." Marinette whispered. She felt Tikki pat her belly under her clothes in response and nodded to Adrien to confirm.

The story continued with the flame emperor who ruled for many generations and was often called yellow. Other parts of the known world were ruled by the black, green, red and white emperors who also kept their rule for many generations.

"Those are the colours of the miraculous." Marinette whispered excitedly. "Does that mean they were passed from one generation to the other?"

"Would you like to raise a hand and ask?" Adrien teased raising his hand. But, the guide approached him and lowered his hand.

"This is not a discussion. We are not asking questions here." the guide warned. Adrien nodded in acknowledgement.

Marinette put her index finger over her mouth and patted her belly to signal Adrien how they would ask Tikki and Plagg about that later. Adrien understood her signal and smiled. They were nervous when the lecture started as they felt listening to that was a waste of time, but they began to recognize the pattern. Perhaps there was something useful to hear. But then again, sometimes it seemed like a pure legend.

Then they learned of other cultural heroes who taught people how to grow crops, particularly the five grains, and how to collect and store them and how to prepare them (and how to make alcohol out from them which earned more attention from the general population of the students than the rest of the story).

"Ms Bustier is not teaching us such stuff." Adrien snickered while he translated briefly.

Marinette nudged him with her elbow to quiet him down. They did not need to attract attention.

They were back to the great flood and how One ruler, Yao was decadent and corrupt together with his vassal Gun did more to help himself indulge in improper behaviour than to help his people so the gods got angry and the flood lasted for years because Yao turned evil and unworthy.

Ling and Ye were snickering at the depiction of the improper behaviour as the events described were exaggerated beyond reality.

But Gun had a son named Yu who stopped the flood by defeating the evil, including his own father, and Yu became the new ruler, considered just and true and started a new dynasty.

Pema and Dorje observed Adrien carefully during that particular story. The boy listened carefully and translated the words to Marinette. There was no particular reaction, no pattern or recognition.

The next story was a bout a bad king named Jie. He mistreated his people, he imposed brutal punishments and he collected a lot of taxes, but not for the benefit of the people, or to build roads or schools. Therefore, his people were not happy and another ruler won a battle against him with the help of a dragon that created a thunderstorm with wind, lightning and rain (water).

Yet another ruler with bad history had a wife who was possessed with malevolent fox spirit and together they committed many cruel and evil deeds.

Marinette looked at Adrien with questioning eyes. Apparently what was going on in Paris was rather common occurrence in the human history.

There were also good and fair kings who built roads and schools, who lowered the taxes and supported science and those who helped the poor to survive the drought years by redistributing food and financial means. Then, the story told, one such ruler stopped the drought by calling on to the help of a dragon who created rains and raised water to the fields.

Marinette could easily imagine some ancient wielder of the Dragon miraculous helping out the people to grow crops. But, it was important not to overdo it because one could easily cause floods. It was not and easy task, indeed. A lot of balance was needed. And the abuse of the power had detrimental consequences.

But then the story switched to yin and yang, the complementary forces that interacted and formed a system that was greater than the parts it was assembled from. The system was dynamic, not static and if yin was seen as a shadow and yang as the sunny side, then, as the sun moved, yin can became yang and yang can became yin.

This part was lost for most of the students. They stared disinterestedly into the monk that stood and spoke that part of the story. Some of them leaned onto their hands, some of them closed off their eyes and drifted into sleep even under the watchful eyes of the government official who was struggling to keep them awake.

"All right, the hour for the history class is finished, let's do some practical work around here." the short but sturdy woman that was their guide clapped her hands and everyone was nudged from their daydream (or nap, or sleep, or whatever).

The two wielders were contemplating the last words and what could they possibly mean for the two of them.


	28. Chapter 28 - The Art of War, Part One

The art of war, part one

_The true art of war is winning your battles without actually going into a fight. (Sun Tzu, 'The Art of War')_

The students were distributed to do the cleaning, cooking, washing up and various different chores that were part of the everyday life in the temple. That allowed Adrien and Marinette to separate from the other students again as they were taken back to the old monks for more one to one teaching (you can read it as questioning). Pema and Dorje were both there and the atmosphere seemed more relaxed.

"We are supposed to be peaceful monks and not teach you warfare." Tenzin started solemnly. "But the true art of war is winning your battles without actually going into a fight."

Plagg floated around carelessly rolling his eyes at the words from the old monk.

"That is easier said than done." Adrien smiled. "How do you not fight an akuma? It is not as if they can be reasoned with."

Adrien switched on his phone again and showed the pictures to Pema, soon it was Dorje who continued explaining and showing pictures to the other monks.

"Hawk Moth and Mayura have the upper hand here. They are creating monsters that attack civilians and us. We have to defend and protect and fight the monsters, while Hawk Moth and Mayura can stay hidden and safe." Marinette spoke animatedly waving her hands.

"We understand your point of view. But akumatized people and the sentimonsters are not the real enemy. They are merely their weapon." Tenzin nodded. "And yet, they never won."

"But we can't afford to lose. If we lose just one battle, if the akuma gets our miraculous, then Hawk Moth won. That's it." Adrien looked at Tenzin incredulously.

"Strategically, you are in much worse position than they are." Tenzin nodded. "You always expose yourself in battle, while they seldom do it."

"They are fighting the wielders of Nooroo and Duusu." Tikki chirped. "They both give their wielders the power of controlling people or inanimate objects from distance."

"You know, I could easily destroy Hawk Moth and his lair." Plagg offered.

"Yeah, just like you helped with that problem in Atlantis?" Dolma raised her eyebrow.

"And removed the extra tiling in Santorini?" Tenzin laughed.

Plagg groaned and floated away.

They studied several battles that Adrien had saved on his phone and told stories describing their moves and how each of them behaved. After a while, the battery on Adrien's phone finally went dead and it was time for him to install the sun powered battery charger somewhere (once he gets back to his backpack anyway).

Tenzin was insisting on discussing the battles where Hawk Moth and Mayura were fighting in person. So Adrien and Marinette got on their feet and explained the battle on the Hero's Day with the help from Dorje and Pema.

Then they re-enacted the fight against the Ladybug sentimonster.

Marinette took her own phone out and showed whatever was saved on it (and there was some, the Ladyblogger was her best friend, she had to).

"You have let go of fighting Hawk Moth to save Chat Noir and he has let go of fighting you for your miraculous to save Mayura." Tenizin stroked his beard. "That means there is something they care for more than winning your miraculous, at least, Hawk Moth does."

Marinette had that battle saved for future reference as it was one of the rare battles where supervillains appeared in person.

"Marinette and I reached the same conclusion." Tikki chirped proudly.

"But I find it difficult to believe." Marinette mumbled.

"Yeah, me too." Plagg mumbled.

Adrien rubbed the back of his neck not sure what to say. It seemed odd to say that Hawk Moth cared about anything. Somehow, the word care did not fit the guy at all.

"And you also care more for Chat Noir than to take the miraculous away from Hawk Moth." Tenzin stroked his beard while watching the two teens.

Adrien blushed and looked at Marinette. She cared for him. This time, he did not translate. Pema had to do the job. Adrien looked at her lovingly, his eyes were gentle and his smile was soft. He wanted to grab her in his arms and spin her around. But then he remembered the subject of their conversation and his mood sunk. It was that day, that same day, when she got expelled and akumatized she also had to fight Hawk Moth in person.

Marinette took a deep breath and collected more courage than she ever needed whenever she fought Hawk Moth, Mayura and any of their monsters.

"I, um, I care for my partner." Marinette studied the carpet on the floor blushing almost as much as Adrien did. That was much to say. She was saying that she cared for Chat Noir. She was saying that she cared for Adrien. In front of them. Well, in front of him. Gah, that was confusing.

"Tactically, that move was an error. If you fought Hawk Moth and took his miraculous from him, you could have easily taken the miraculous from Mayura and then use the Miraculous Ladybug magic to restore Chat Noir." Tenzin spoke gently and full of understanding, his eyes watched the girl carefully, studying her reaction to his words as Adrien translated.

Marinette stared at the carpet directly in front of her feet.

"I could not have let Chat die. Again. I had to save him." Marinette spoke sniffling and looking to the floor. 'I had to save you.' she wanted to scream and cry, but the truth was, she did not know Chat Noir was Adrien at the time. How could she ever be sorry for making that decision?

Adrien waved his head and took a step towards Marinette, he put his hands on her shoulders. His eyes were full of tears. Pema was translating her words.

She would never sacrifice Chat, even before she knew he was Adrien. She would never put victory in front of the life of her partner. She would never put victory over Adrien's life. Probably anyone's life.

She squared her shoulders and raised her head. She wiped the tears from her eyes with her sleeve while she smiled weakly to Adrien. Then she turned her eyes towards Tenzin.

"That would be too great risk to take. What if I lost to Hawk Moth? If Chat Noir would not be able to fight him after his fall and we would lose?" Marinette looked at Tenzin straight into his eyes.

Tenzin slowly nodded and smiled.

"You weighted the risks well, with your head, right now, here, in this room." Tenzin smiled. "But in the heat of the battle, you made your decision with your heart. You followed your instinct. You did what was safe. You did well."

"Excuse me." Adrien started and all the heads turned to him. "But Marinette … " Adrien inhaled sharply. "That day!" He waved his head. "Marinette went through hell that day." Adrien looked at her teary eyed remembering everything that happened, how Lila framed her to get expelled. And then he told them. He elaborated step by step what happened to Marinette that day in school.

"I can only admire how you managed to fight that day." Adrien said looking at Marinette and waving his head slightly.

"So you got akumatized that day?" Dolma asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Almost everybody have." Adrien flipped his head towards the old woman and brushed her of a bit more harshly than he intended. "But the butterflies left their victims on their own. We do not know how Hawk Moth enhances his powers, but it must be hard because he did it only twice."

"Hm" the old man stroke his beard. "Could you tell us more about that girl who god Marinette expelled from school?"

So Adrien did. He was giving his explanation without asking Marinette to cut in as most of the conversation was in Chinese.

Marinette was in her own thoughts, she should have never allowed to become akumatized, never, ever, ever. Never! This probably meant she was not fit to be Ladybug nor to be the guardian.

But, Adrien felt her insecurity rise and took her hand.

"Is she in school at all?" Dolma asked sternly, impatient for the story to finish.

"Of course." Adrien smiled and explained what he did. Then Adrien asked Marinette to explain her side which was brief, but caused substantial amount of laughter from Adrien once he learned what was Lila's excuse for lying and once he translated, Tenzin burst into laughter too.

"It figures." the old monk sighed once he calmed down. "Do you have any idea where the girl is now and what is she doing?"

Adrien waved his head. "We did not bother."

Marinette shrugged in response.

"You should know your enemies." Tenzin waved his index finger.

Marinette looked at Adrien with questioning look. Why was that girl of any importance to them?

They have switched the subject and discussed further which powers their opponents had and how they used them.

"We, actually, we came here because we believed, well, we thought that, maybe, Hawk Moth and Mayura may be after the temple and after you." Marinette stumbled her words but Adrien made the statement short and clear.

"Oh, we know they do." Dolma exclaimed theatrically.

Tenzin glared at her. Dorje sighed. Pema rolled her eyes.

"We would much appreciate your help in such circumstance." Tenzin spoke slowly and carefully. "You are helping us already by explaining their tactics and their ways of leading battles."

Adrien was not sure they were explaining any tactics. Ladybug was the one with the tactics. Chat Noir might cataclysm them or annoy them until they gave up. Yeah, he would also like to kick Hawk Moth's butt with his staff, but the man was good with his stick and handled it like a sword.

The monks explained how the magic that hides the identity of the wielders was suppressed on the temple grounds. But they also reassured the two teens that it is only the trained monks and other wielders who are able to recognize them.

"It is also said that there is a stone on these grounds that can take away the powers from the superheroes if you touch it while transformed." Pema spoke while Dolma stared at her.

"They already know." Tikki chirped.

"I might be able to confirm its existence at one point in time." Plagg muttered. Tenzin looked at him gently.

"It supposedly robs the power from the kwami forever." Pema continued. "Their kwami have certainly warned them."

"He needs to be transformed and he needs butterflies to create akuma." Marinette explained. "We do not know how close he has to be to control the akuma but all of them were created on the territory of the City of Paris."

Adrien remembers how his father carried pets and was stopped at the customs. The memory sent shivers down his spine. Why would he remember something like that in that moment?

Dorje and Pema received instructions from Tenzin and two miraculous from Dolma.

"Dorje and Pema will give your first lessons in history and warfare. Please follow their instructions carefully." Tenzin explained and sent the four of them away.

"We will have to tell them." Tenzin said quietly once the two old monks were alone.

"You know it is not ours to tell." Dolma brushed him off.

Tenzin smiled and stroke his beard. Knowing those two monks he sent with the two teens, it is going to take some time, but they will be prepared to know their enemy.


	29. Chapter 29 - The First Lesson or

The first lesson or how you should never teach history

Note: I am a bit confused by the canon here. I believe Alix got her miraculous for her 15th birthday from her father. This is why it got miraculously fixed at the end of the episode although it seemed to defy logic since it got broken before Alix got akumatized. But then, the rabbit kwami, Fluff, appeared in the miracle box in Sandboy and the kwami was there in Kwamibuster. I need the watch in the miracle box for this story so I put it there :)

Marinette and Adrien followed Dorje and Pema as they climbed down the cliff from the top where the temple sat. They got out from the temple on the excuse that these two students will be shown and participate in some of the chores executed by the monks. It was worded in such a way that none of the army and government officials felt the slightest wish to follow them. The monks carried some food with them and Adrien and Marinette were told to change into their clothes for wet weather (although it was sunny late morning outside).

They descended down a narrow path, partially natural partially cut into the cliff. They kept quiet as they walked and watched every step. After one sharp turn they reached an indent where they entered into a small cave. The entrance was well hidden, they might have passed it if the monks did not know exactly where to go. They unwrapped the packages they carried and carefully disposed a ceramic pot with cooked food and some more dishes wrapped in cloth as well as several vessels with water. They examined the amount of food. It was sufficient for a few days for the four of them, but Adrien remembered rather vividly how the monks have explained that they would be back before the dinner. That was odd.

"So it is you." Adrien smiled to Marinette while the two monks talked quietly on the side.

Marinette smiled. "And you." She looked him in the eyes and wandered how she has not seen it before. But then again, she did refuse to see it when Alya pointed it out.

He leaned over.

She poked him in the nose with the tip of her index finger.

They laughed.

"I should have expected it. I knew it. I was so sure it was you until you revealed yourself as Multimouse." he smiled. "You really tricked me well that time." Adrien shook his index finger and smirked.

"I never suspected you." Marinette admitted nodding. Adrien raised his eyebrows. "I have given you the Snake miraculous. And you took it. You were Aspik." Marinette rambled.

"And I failed miserably." Adrien looked down.

"No, you have not, you have saved me, so many times." Marinette reached for his hand.

Adrien remembered the number and sighed.

"You brought me back so many times and you were not too proud to give up and let someone else try." Marinette looked at his face, but he still looked down. "I am certain we failed because we missed you, as Chat Noir." Marinette smiled. Adrien finally lifted his face and smiled back.

Two flashes of light filled out the cave. There was a rabbit superhero and a horse superhero in the place of the two monks.

Pema was dressed in white and light blue and carried an umbrella. The clothes were not the classic monk robes, but much more practical to move. She wore loose white trousers and a white shirt with a long light blue scarf over it. A light blue mask covered her face and she had white ears.

"Hello, you can call me Rabbit for this occasion." Rabbit smiled.

Dorje transformed into Horse. He was checking how he looks and touched his face, as they did not have a mirror in the cave. He wore brown head to toe, but the clothes were of similar shape, as for Rabbit. Horse was still checking himself, his mask, lose brown pants and shirt with a brown scarf when Rabbit nudged him.

"We will start with a lesson in history." the Rabbit told them and waved the umbrella creating a portal. All four of them passed through the portal.

They were in the same cave, but there was no food, it was much darker, they could barely recognize each other as shapes in the darkness and some stones were in different place.

"It is good that this place has not changed at all during the millennia." the Horse told them. Rabbit de-transformed, gave some food to the rabbit kwami and hid the kwami in a small bag on the side.

"We should stay hidden and only observe the events unfolding, there where we are going." The Rabbit holder explained. "The best way to do that is to stay untransformed and observe as civilians. Remember, you should not interfere, whatever you see going on there. You should not interfere."

The two teens nodded to confirm they understood.

The Horse created a portal and the whole group went through.

They were in a forest. It was warm and it was dark. The moon was shining while the sun just started to make the skies lighter.

"The sun has not come up yet. Let's go." Horse said as he de-transformed into Dorje. They ran through the forest lead by the horse. "I could not get us too close. We should never be seen. If possible."

"We are close to the edge. Let's go up." Pema stopped them. "We should not get caught." She looked around and pointed a direction where she saw something that satisfied her. "In case we get caught, we all transform and Horse creates a portal back." Everyone nods in acknowledgement. "You should not fight them and you should not interfere."

They walked for a few minutes until they found a tree that seemed satisfactory to the two monks.

So, they climbed the tree. When they reached the upper branches, a view of a valley spread before them. There was a fortified settlement. One could hardly call it a fort. The fortifications were made of mud and sticks that stuck out of it and just the top few meters were made from wood and stone.

"This is the siege of Wu that had lead to the downfall of Ch'i." The whole group looked at the green meadow before them.

"The citizens of Wu were kept under siege for months, but they were never given any terms of surrender. The leader of the Ch'i wanted them defeated and annihilated. And they knew it. So they fought until the last one standing." Pema explained.

"On the other hand, the solders of Ch'i could not go home or they would be killed on the spot. But after the months of siege, and the atrocities they committed, many were not willing to return to the normal life while the fresh reinforcements, the young people brought from the Ch'i homeland, they did not want to fight once they heard the stories from the more experienced solders." Pema continued.

"We have never seen this battle, it was one of the many. The king of Wu knew a lot about the Ch'i kingdom because of the trade. The king of Ch'i did not go to the battle himself. He made decisions from his home trusting the information he got from messengers that always came for more reinforcements." Pema spoke quickly as the scene became brighter and brighter. The sun was raising behind their backs. "You can see the king of Wu there watching from the reinforcements."

They watched the battle unfold. One could hardly call it a battle, it was more like a carnage. With many solders from Ch'i escaping the battle unnoticed.

The four observers stayed hidden on a tree, but they could see the battle unfold with in all its gruesome details.

Marinette screamed at one point, unable to stay at the side and not intervene. She firmly believed in the saying that Alya taught her: 'The only thing needed for the triumph of evil is for the good people to do nothing.' Adrien muffled her scream and she hid her face in his chest. He shed a few tears while Marinette sobbed on his shoulder.

Tikki sat on her shoulder, she was silent through the whole ordeal.

Plagg initially whined for cheese, and Adrien obliged. Then he hid in the boy's clothes mumbling how he saw it all so many times before. Finally, feeling the distress of his chosen, the little cat like god sat on Adrien's shoulder whispering his own words of comfort. Well, that was comfort if you find the words Plagg used comforting.

For two superheroes, watching a battle where many innocent civilians were suffering without being allowed to interfere was a pure torture.

They resisted begging to stop this torture, they decided they would go through the training so they suffered watching the carnage before them.

Marinette screamed a warning to a group of children to hide. She was loud enough to be heard by the kids and they indeed hid in a hole in the ground.

The two monks were not satisfied.

"We are not supposed to interfere. We could change the course of history if we do." the two monks warned.

"But why are we here? What are we supposed to learn from this?" she begged at least for some understanding, some purpose of this suffering.

"We are not used to stay aside and watch. We interfere. We help. That is why we were chosen." Adrien explained.

"You are here to learn from mistakes from the past." the two monks shrugged, they merely followed the instructions given by the two older monks.

"We are here not as your teachers, but merely as guides." Pema added. She began to see that this way of teaching must be very frustrating if you are a kind person who would always interfere and protect those who can not do it for themselves.

"Our duty is to bring you here for you to see for yourself." Dorje shrugged his shoulders. They heard stories of the battle that unfolded many times over the years of their training, but never witnessed one.

"Whatever you learn from this is your own doing." Pema warned. She could see the two teens were frustrated. Perhaps the whole point was to train their patience.

And the two kids forced themselves to watch.

"There are no superheroes involved in this battle." Marinette whispered once she managed to turon on the analytical part of her brain.

"Nope" Plagg replied. "We did not bother with this dispute." he lowered his little head in shame.

"There was no magic involved, there was no need for our intervention." Tikki added quietly.

"Nobody will bring them back." Marinette cried. Both teens were so used to the fact that they were active in every battle, and they would win and then Ladybug magic would restore everything as it was, including revitalizing those who were caught and suffered.

Once she was able to set the overwhelming feelings slightly aside, Marinette noticed the main flaw in the strategy. And that was that the attackers had no strategy at all. That side was waiting for the other side to became exhausted and give up. The solders of the city under siege were waiting patiently for the attackers to fall in their traps. And they did. The attacker side had merely solders, their families were left at home, and nothing bad would happen to their loved ones. They had access to food and water but their motivation was diminishing as the battle unfolded.

"How long has this siege lasted so far?" Adrien managed to think of a reasonable question.

"Three and half months. The inhabitants of the town are starving right now but they renew their supplies after every battle." Pema waved her head. It was obvious that watching all this suffering had made her anxious. Both Dorje and Pema wandered what was the point of bringing two kids to watch this particular battle.

"But if they lose, they lose everything, their lives and their homes and there is little hope their loved ones would be spared as the attacker is known not to take prisoners. The people of the town, they have nothing to lose by continuing to fight." Marinette nodded her head while tears continued to fill her eyes and flow down her face.

Finally, the evening came and there were no Ch'i solders left on the battlefield while there few Wu solders wandering around half crazy. The families got out from their hiding spots and few supplies reached the city under siege as the attacking solders diminished.

"Nobody won." Adrien waved his head. "Nobody can win a battle that is lead until extinction."

"Actually, Wu won." Marinette sighed. "They survived, so they won. Just like we do."

"But, in order to really win, they should go after the solders and attack Ch'i." Adrien whispered.

"And that is something we were never able to do. Their leader is hiding. We can only win against Hawk Moth and Mayura when we fight them face to face." Marinette whispered.

"So we wait for them to come to us." Adrien whispered.

"Just like Wu did." the girl nodded.

Once it was dark, they climbed down a tree and Dorje transformed into Horse and brought them back to the cave, where Pema transformed into Rabbit transformed and brought them back to their time.

All four felt sick to their stomachs and not hungry at all, but the monks motioned for all four of them to eat. It was necessary to eat. They have not been eating for twelve hours although they were gone for only a few minutes.


	30. Chapter 30 - TheArt ofWar-Know Yourself

The art of war part two – know yourself

_If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle. (Sun Tzu, The Art of War)_

They all just wanted to forget what they saw. They were far from the battle, but still saw the gore details. It was hard to remove that from their minds.

The two monks chatted quietly between themselves, careful not to be overheard by the two teens, or at least Adrien, who would catch up on the conversation. Both Pema and Dorje concluded that the previous lesson forced the wielders to remain passive and observe while they were prone to act. It might have been a good training to stay patient and hidden, but it did not work, Marinette practically failed. They both agreed not to report the incident and were discussing what to do next.

Marinette filled the two bowls with cooked rice and took them towards Adrien. He sat with his head in his hands. He enjoyed the akuma battles alongside his lady. She would restore everything back to how it was before. This was different.

Marinette sat beside Adrien and nudged him to take one bowl. He looked up, his face and eyes were red, but he smiled gratefully and took the bowl. They have not eaten for twelve hours while they were observing the battle, but in the time they left, only one minute has passed.

They took a few spoonfuls in silence, chewing and swallowing with effort. But, when rice reached their stomach, the pained knot loosened a bit and it was easier to breathe.

"Why?" Adrien started "Why you never suspected me to be Chat Noir?" he used the opportunity to continue the conversation they had in the same cave before they went back in time. It was also to put his mind somewhere else. Anywhere else. And the two of them could finally talk.

Marinette shrugged at first. She took one more spoonful of rice and chewed for a long time to prolong the time that she needed to think of an answer.

"Alya called it." Marinette shrugged again. "I told her it was impossible." she smiled.

"You think it is impossible that I am that charming cat?" Adrien smirked and raised his eyebrows.

"You are definitely that cat." Marinette laughed.

"But not charming?" Adrien smiled at her as he took one more bite. She stared at her rice. "Princess?" he whispered and took one more spoon of rice. Marinette blushed. She picked on the rice with her spoon.

"You do not think I am charming, Princess?" Adrien whispered again and put more rice in his mouth. She stared at her bowl and tapped the rice with her spoon.

"You" tap tap "You are" tap tap tap "You are more charming as Adrien." she squeezed out quickly and then bowed her head low and pulled up her knees to hide her face. He grinned happily, all his dreams were coming true. Actually, none of his dreams were coming true and everything was even better. But, she was curled into a ball, hiding her face from him.

"Marinette" he whispered, he put the bowl in his lap and put the free arm around her shoulders. "You are charming too." He stroked her shoulder then squeezed it. "You make me very happy." he whispered into her ear.

She raised her head a little, sufficiently to see him through her bangs, but when she saw the pure joy in his face she raised her face completely. Adrien was happy. She made him happy. He said so. That was all she ever wanted. She smiled gently at him.

"I was so sure it was you. I hoped it was you. But you crushed it after Multimouse. I should have seen it. I should have know how far would you go to protect your identity." Adrien whispered softly, sighing in the end. He continued to eat and Marinette remembered she had rice too.

"I'm sorry." Marinette mumbled and took some food.

"Don't be. I understand." Adrien smiled. "I am just so happy that Ladybug is you." And perhaps slightly concerned. While he was still in Paris, he planned to profess his undying love to Ladybug as soon as they met in the temple (and hopefully he would learn her identity by then). But that plan crawled out from his mind the longer he spent time with Marinette. And now, he dismissed the plan entirely. He expressed his feelings towards Ladybug so many times and yet he refused the girl who was behind the mask (for her with the mask, but it did not matter). No wander she never took him seriously and told him they could never be together.

"I … " Marinette took a deep breath. "I am also happy that Chat Noir is you." she spoke quickly and forced the words out so she had to fix it. "Confused, but happy." she sighed. Adrien relaxed and smiled back. She pushed back all thoughts on her crush for days now, ever since they left Paris so she stopped rewinding every moment they interacted in her head.

They ate in silence for a minute. Adrien was finished with his food and got up on his feet to take more. Plagg floated out from his jacket.

"So, what do you think about pigtails now, kid?" Plagg crossed his arms.

"Shut up Plagg." Adrien was in no mood to be teased by the little cat like god of destruction. Destructing the mood, yes that was what he was an expert in.

"You are doing really well." Tikki chirped to Marinette. "I am sorry masters gave you two no time to adjust, but we have to hurry. Hawk Moth and Mayura might be here at any moment."

And that put Marinette back to reality. She was there to fight, not to explore her love life. She put that aside when she was leaving Paris. Yes, she enjoyed Adrien's attention, it created a fluttering feelings in her stomach, she blushed and had to remember herself to breathe from time to time, but all in all, she took it as it was, friendly gestures and nothing more. And that is what they are going to be, until they reach home. She started to eat her food faster.

Adrien returned with more rice and ate beside her.

"So, you think I am charming?" Adrien teased some more leaning into her space even more. His Chat-like grin, teasing look in his eyes and raised eyebrows made Marinette roll her eyes.

"We are sharing that sleeping bag." she groaned, then she turned her face towards him and pushed her face into his "Chat!" she stressed the word. Then, she instantly pulled away and looked to the side. "We can't resolve our feelings for each other right now." she waved her head. She could not go back to that stuttering mess around Adrien, he was her partner and she was supposed to fight alongside him. No wander she was told they should not know each other's identities. She was such a mess around Adrien. She was annoyed by the self-sacrifice of Chat Noir. And if she knew his identity, it would have been much worse, she wandered if she would have been able to concentrate and win any fight.

"Yeah." Adrien sighed looking around, taking in their surroundings and the two monks who now stared at the teens. "We can't talk about our feelings right now." he sounded disappointed. "There is something more important to do, right, My Lady?" he asked a bit harshly. There never was any time to talk about feelings with his lady, she always rebuked his advances, there was no point in forcing her now that he knew her identity.

"Actually, you should." Pema smiled widely. "You should know yourself, otherwise, you will loose every battle."

"Oh" Marinette looked at Pema with her mouth opened in an 'o'. Then she turned towards Adrien. Okay, so this has to be done, otherwise they will loose to Hawk Moth and Mayura. This has to be done for the common good, for the benefit of everyone, not just her. She had to admit her feelings to save those two monks in the cave, and all those monks in the temple, and all the students, her cousins Ling and Ye, everyone's lives depended on her finding the courage to speak right now. So, she did.

"Adrien, I love you since the day you gave me your umbrella." she told himquickly as she faced him. "And I love Chat too, perhaps not exactly the same way, but I do." She lowered her eyes to the bowl of rice she still held in her hands. She has not eaten for an equivalent of a whole day and apparently she is never going to finish it.

"I love you too, Marinette, Ladybug, I love you both." Adrien whispered and put his bowl of rice to the side. "I am so sorry I refused you as Marinette." he whispered. "I was so sorry that day, even before your dad got akumatized. I knew I messed up. And I thought, you did not like me as Adrien." he took a few deep breaths. "I would do anything for you. I would die for you. That photo-shoot, the day you got expelled, I did it to make her get you back into school."

Marinette's vision was blur, there were warm tears rolling down her cheeks. Adrien went on his knees took the bowl of rice that she was not even aware she was holding away from her hands and put next to his. Then he pulled her up from where she was sitting into a hug. They both cried happy tears.

They stood like that on their knees for minutes, calming down their breathing, holding each other tight and enjoying each other's company.

The two monks nodded to each other with satisfaction and continued eating. The sounds of their spoons on their bowls was what made the two teens become aware of their surroundings again.

"Perhaps we should eat now." Adrien spoke quietly into Marinette's shoulder. "I have a feeling the next lesson in our training is going to put some strain on us."

Marinette nodded into his shoulder and they slowly separated.

They took their bowls with rice and sat back down. They glanced at each other and smiled when their eyes met. Plagg and Tikki floated towards them.

"Finally." Plagg exclaimed.

"Oh, you!" Tikki chided Plagg.

"You know I was out there the whole day without any food, I am so hungry." Plagg whined.

Adrien smiled and patted his mouth with an empty spoon pretending to consider what to do. Then he offered Plagg some rice. Plagg made a disgusted face at the rice and then a this chosen.

In the meantime, Marinette produced a cookie from her pocket and gave it to Tikki.

"Oh leave him alone if he has no cheese on him." Tikki scolded and munched on her cookie.

Adrien then pretended he just remembered something and produced a cheese triangle from his jacket pocket. Plagg grinned happily. Then Adrien waved it around a few times to tease Plagg. Plagg crossed his arms. Adrien finally threw the cheese in the air and Plagg caught it, swallowing it whole in one bite.

Pema and Dorje watched Plagg swallow the cheese with their eyes and mouths wide open.

"Always such a glutton." Adrien smiled.

"You have no manners Plagg." Tikki chided.

Marinette scratched Plagg's head.

Plagg burped.

Marinette quickly retracted her hand and everyone laughed.

They continued eating in silence for a few moments.

"Seriously, I do not know how will we fight the next time." Marinette sighed. "I could not possibly see you get hurt."

"You have to, Marinette. We have to continue fighting as we did. I have to protect you. I want to protect you. I have protected you both as Ladybug and as Marinette." Adrien spoke quietly. "Seeing you akumatized that day made me promise to myself that I would do anything in my power to not to see that again. Ever! I would do anything to protect you. Literally. Anything!"

Then he took a deep breath.

"I should have thrown myself in the way of that butterfly." Adrien sighed. "I can't believe I let it happen, I was just there." the boy sounded desperate and blamed himself. The truth was, now that he knew Marinette was Ladybug, the memory of her getting akumatized was far worse.

"A butterfly would still find me. There were too many of them. And I was through too much that day." Marinette replied simply stating the facts. "But, thank you, Adrien. And thank you for dealing with her." she did not want to mention the name, she just pronounced the word her in a weird way.

"Don't mention it." Adrien smiled and meant it in so many ways. "My father would have made me do it anyway, probably, he likes her for some reason." Adrien shrugged.

Pema listened carefully to the conversation and whispered something to Dorje. He nodded.

"If you are finished with your food, we should probably go to our next point in space and time." Pema announced, then she got up and put away the food bowls.


	31. Chapter 31 - The Second History Lesson

The second lesson

Pema and Dorje were already on their feet waiting for Marinette and Adrien to get up from where they were sitting on the floor. The two of them still have not processed all the information they got that morning. Adrien was Chat Noir. Marinette was Ladybug. And they just admitted to be in love with each other. And yet, they were about to travel to a different point in space and time and witness some other event. The last one was gruesome and they were expected to watch on the side and not interfere. That was pure torture for the two teen superheroes who were chosen because they interfered and helped a man who appeared to be in trouble.

"I hope we do not get to witness another carnage and sit still." Adrien whispered as he got up.

"And keep our mouths shut." Marinette added remembering how she failed in her first lesson. She could not just stand by and watch, the warning scream was out from her lungs before she was even aware what she was doing.

"Actually" Pema smiled "We were thinking of taking you to a battle where you could interfere." "But first you will have to witness why that happened." Dorje added.

Adrien sighed relieved that this would at least require some action while he translated to Marinette. She smiled back at him. She was on such an emotional roller coaster that morning that some physical action on her side would help her release at least some of the tension that accumulated inside. Although, she had to admit, she felt lighter ever since she told Adrien how she felt about him.

They took the food packages to pack additional cheese and cookies for their kwami.

"Where are we going?" Plagg asked Pema as he flew straight into her face. "I have a feeling it is that place. I told this every time they took me back there. I do not want to see that ever again."

Pema blinked at Plagg a few times.

"They have to learn about that event too." Pema sighed and looked to the side.

"They asked to witness no battle. You do not need to show them the battle. At least not the first one." Plagg was annoyed and worried and utterly resolved to persuade the two monks to avoid seeing a specific event.

"Plagg is right, they do not have to see the fist battle, you can tell them how it unfolded while they watch the events in the palace." Tikki chirped. Plagg raised his nose at the 'Plagg is right' part and Tikki regretted saying that. Who will ever put his ego back to a normal lever, at least 'an ancient god of destruction' normal level.

"Fine, we can show them the consequences." Pema accepted defeat when she saw how annoyed Plagg was and how concerned both Adrien and Marinette were. It was not as if she wanted to see that particular incident.

"Thank you Pema for taking us there." Tikki bowed. "They have to learn and it would be a good training ground for them."

After that Pema and Dorje discussed exactly when and where they should go with Kaalki and Fluff as well as with Plagg and Tikki. The discussion was rather lively, but Marinette and Adrien took a step or two back and away to have some small talk of their own.

"Remember the Clara Nightingale video?" Adrien whispered to Marinette over her shoulder while she watched the discussion. She first instinctively waved her hand to shush him as she thought that the discussion before her was what she should be paying attention to. But she could not understand the discussion completely and then her brain processed the words Adrien said and she burst into laughter.

"I can't believe that. It was us!" she put her hands on her face and turned towards him.

"Yeah" he leaned in over her and smirked. Then he put his arm around her waist and pulled her closer and into a hug. "I can't believe us."

"Ahem" four kwami and two monks pretended to cough in their fists.

Marinette and Adrien separated and looked at the monks sheepishly.

"We are taking you for a funeral." Pema announced. (The error in English is intended).

The two teens looked at each other and shrugged before they turned back to the two monks. How was this better than watching the battle? It probably was, but, well they'll see.

"We will explain everything once we get there. You will have to transform and join the battle. It should be good training for you." Pema continued.

"Fluff, clockwise" Pema called and transformed into Rabbit.

She waved her umbrella and made a portal. All four of them (plus three kwami) passed through a time portal, re-entering the same cave. It was daytime, late afternoon.

Dorje transformed into Horse and made a different portal that teleported them straight in front of the gates of a palace. The outer walls of the palace were painted white with black and red decorations while the gates were painted black with gold decorations. There were two Chinese signs, for 'yellow' and 'dragon' painted in gold letters on the door and two dragons were painted above them. Adrien quietly explained the marks to Marinette as they were entering through the outer walls. There was a lot of people entering the walls and many of them chanted the same words:

"A girl was raised to wield a miraculous and she was given the ring."

"A boy was raised to wield a miraculous and he was given the earrings."

Adrien felt Plagg sigh where he sat on the boy's shoulder.

"She was one of my favourite wielders." Adrien would swear Plagg spoke through tears. "You remind me of her, sometimes."

"At least you got to be with them when it happened." Tikki sighed quietly from Marinette's shoulder. The kwami were not hiding, but nobody around them paid any attention to that, nor the face that the two teens wore modern clothing in ancient China (or wherever they currently were, but they would guess it was still somewhere in China).

"I did not appreciate the experience." Plagg groaned.

"You helped them both in their last moments." Tikki whispered. "Thank you Plagg."

"The king you are about to see was very vain. He had many wives and they gave him many sons (and daughters). But, that meant they should either divide the kingdom into many parts or conquer more land. So he sent his sons into battles to conquer more land." Pema stated clearly. "Since he was vain, the advisors in his court ascended in their importance by giving him presents, not by their competence." She stopped talking for half a minute not to draw attention from two guards they were passing in the queue that winded the outer courtyard towards the entrance to the inner courtyard. They were passing a few fancy buildings in the outer courtyard, coloured in red, white and black.

"These are the houses of the king's advisers." Dorje explained in the break.

"As you can hear in the chant, a boy and a girl were raised to wield the Ladybug and Black Cat miraculous. In order to raise his position at the court, the boy's father took away his earrings and gave them to the king." Pema explained. "Then, the king decided he could win against any army. He had four sons left at the time. He divided his army into four armies and sent them to the different sides of the world to be lead by his sons who should conquer the lands for themselves. The man who took the earrings from his son got the position of the high adviser and sent his son to one of the battles. The ruler used the power of creation to create weapons never made by the human hand and enjoyed to abuse his power. All of his four sons engaged in battles and died as a consequence, leaving no heir. The king was an old man and none of his wives could bear him more children."

They passed through the second gates into the inner courtyard. It was filled with people.

"We should find some place on the side." Dorje whispered as he lead them to one side, close to the inner wall.

"The girl's father wanted to improve his position in the court too, so he had given his young daughter to marry the old man and yield him more sons. He also got a position of the high adviser. The daughter used her miraculous and transformed. She escaped her father and her future husband and run into the battle that was already lost. There she strived to protect the young solders who were ordered not to retreat. She destroyed the weapons that the enemy took from them, but after days of fighting, she became tired and made a mistake. She was protecting one particular boy solider when both of them got hit. They both died in the field. The boy was the one whose miraculous earrings were taken by his father. And here we are at their funeral." Pema finished the story. The sun has set while they walked and it was slowly becoming darker. Several fires and many torches lit the area of the inner courtyard that was filled with people.

"You know, we could prevent the whole battle thing." Plagg suggested.

"That would just postpone it and make it worse." Tikki chirped. "It has been tried."

They saw the king giving an order from his high chair on the top of the grand staircase leading to a small but richly decorated building. A man got down the stairs to one of the bodies laid down before them.

"There are his four sons, and the boy and the girl." Dorje whispered.

The man reached for the girl's hand and took the ring of her finger.

"She is not any older than us." Adrien whispered to Marinette. Both their eyes were blur. Adrien stood on his toes to see better. "Is he, the Ladybug miraculous wielder, that younger boy?"

Dorje nodded. The other four looked like full grown men with beards. The boy had no beard.

"The king has both the earrings and the ring now." Marinette warned.

The woman sitting to the right side of the king had a mask on her face that seemed familiar to the two teens and her dress was – was it made from the peacock feathers? She did a small move with her hand, but somehow, everyone noticed it. And then, a dragon landed at the inner wall of the courtyard.

"That is a sentimonster, she is a wielder of the peacock miraculous." Marinette whispered.

"So it begins." Tikki and Plagg spoke in unison.

The king put the ring on and called for both unification and transformation. His robes changed colour into a combination of black and red with black spots.

"He is not a legitimate wielder, he is abusing the power, he called for black transformation, why is he dressed that way?" Dorje asked.

"That was his choice of colour." Tikki explained.

Another dragon landed on the inner courtyard wall, on the opposite side.

The king spoke and made a wish.

Four rays of light lit up the bearded bodies and they stirred awake.

At the same time, there were numerous screams from the crowd around the lifeless bodies that suddenly dropped to the ground.

"Way to acknowledge your children out of wedlock." Plagg muttered.

The third dragon landed on the wall.

"How have his sons died in the first place, if their armies had all this power?" Marinette asked.

"He sent them to their battles without any of the miraculous, they could not loose what they did not have." Tikki chirped.

The four sons of the king got to their feet and walked towards the stairs below the throne of their father and bowed.

"We have to fight them." Dorje pointed towards the throne. "And get their miraculous."

They heard a flap of wings behind their back.

"We transform now." Marinette ordered and there were four transformation lights. Ladybug and Chat Noir stared at each other as their transformation lights faded.

"Quick, the dragons." Chat Noir yelped still staring at Ladybug as his ears have picked up a movement of wings behind them. Ladybug flung her yoyo and took Rabbit with her. They landed lightly on the back of the dragon as it landed on the wall. Chat Noir took Horse and they followed on his extended baton. But as the dragon moved they ended stumbling down the neck of the dragon. Chat Noir stopped himself from falling off with his claws and swung himself to the dragon's back while Ladybug caught Horse with her yoyo. The four of them sat on the dragon while all four dragons slowly flapped their wings and rose to the night air.


	32. Chapter 32 - The Battle of the Gods

The battle of the gods

The dragons circled above the palace and landed again. There were more words spoken by now de-transformed king.

"They are sending the dragons first … and then the army?" Chat Noir asked Rabbit who confirmed.

"They are going after all the miraculous wielders. They want to collect them all." Horse warned. "They will go after us if they recognize us." Rabbit warned.

"Remember, this is your fight, we are here as a safety net." Hose reminded Ladybug and Chat Noir.

The full moon was raising and the dragons flew higher than before. They could see the palace lit up by fires, the dark forest and the fields and the sea in the distance to the east as the moonlight reflected from the surface of the water. Then, the dragons flew around in larger and larger distance until they returned again.

"She is testing how far she can control them?" Ladybug concluded but it was toned as a question.

"Probably. She is getting on one of the dragons. See?" Chat Noir asked. But it was only him who could see that with his enhanced night vision.

The four dragons raised high up in the air, made one more circle towards the sea. This time they ventured further from the palace and the ancient city. They could see numerous small wooded islands sticking vertically from the sea surface. The dragons flew low, their wings would touch the sea surface occasionally. They took sharp turns left and right as they navigated between the islands and blurted a bit of fire before they turned back up and moved away from the sea and flew inland.

The terrain below them was first flat and then there were a few hills. The hills were becoming higher and higher. The moonlight made it easier to recognize the terrain below. Chat Noir could describe it in many details, so he did. They flew in a formation, with the peacock riding the first dragon, the two dragons without any load followed flying in parallel and the dragon that carried the four heroes was the last..

The hills were rising higher and higher until they were flying among numerous vertical cliffs. They were sticking out from the ground like pencils from a cup, raising vertically, some higher some lower, with sparse trees sticking out from the almost vertical surfaces.

The dragons navigated slowly between the cliffs.

"She is ordering them to land." Chat Noir whispered. "I could hear her." He had enhanced hearing after all and could hear a voice very far away in the quiet of the night. The dragon they were clinging on to landed on top of one high cliff and folded its wings.

"Can she hear us?" Rabbit whispered.

"Peacock miraculous does not give you enhanced hearing, only Chat Noir has that." Ladybug replied. (Although rabbits in nature have excellent hearing too.)

"It is few hours until sunrise." Horse whispered.

"We wait." Ladybug replied.

"What is the plan?" Chat Noir asked.

"We need to get the object or objects that are used to control the dragons from the peacock holder and then we return to that palace. The king should be there, right?" Ladybug replied.

"Actually, he might be interested to go himself and try to get an eternal life. He believed he coud do that." Rabbit answered. "Using the powers, he can go rather quickly up the river." Horse added.

"Okay, then, can we attack her now?" Ladybug looked up. "Chat, can you see her?"

"As clear as the day." Chat grinned, his night vision allowed him to spot all three other dragons and which one carried the wielder of the peacock miraculous. "She and her fan are right there." he pointed towards a dragon in the darkness. The other three merely stared into the darkness.

"Horse, could crate a portal to transfer me there and I can grab her miraculous." Chat grinned.

"And then we would have no dragons to use for transport." Ladybug waved her head.

"We have him." Chat noir pointed towards the Horse in the darkness, but nobody could see his black hand clearly. "He can teleport us."

"Yes, but we do not know where!" Ladybug groaned. "We need the object or objects that she uses to control the dragons."

"Okay, I'll see if I can _spot_ something." Chat grinned at Ladybug and then looked into the distance. "She travels _light_." he grinned again. Ladybug rolled her eyes. "I have a _fan_tastic view to her weapon. Otherwise, she is dressed _feather_ light, very similar to Mayura, actually. Except, she has a thin chain around her neck with several small charms hanging from it."

"Are charms in the shape of dragons?" Ladybug asked.

"Might be. Hard to tell." Chat shrugged.

"Okay, let's go for it." Ladybug whispered.

Chat stared at her in the darkness.

"We?" he asked incredulously.

"Of course." Ladybug answered raising her eyebrows.

Chat waved his clawed hand in front of her nose.

"You are as blind as a bat." Chat laughed.

"Bats see very well in the dark thanks to their hearing." Ladybug teased.

"But your hearing is no better than usual." Chat teased back.

"Look" Ladybug started and Chat laughed again. "Only I can actually look." he replied teasingly.

Ladybug groaned.

"I have to tie her up and ride that dragon with her in tow. You have to take the chain with charms and steer the dragons. We could fly them in the night." Ladybug crossed her arms.

"Okay, now you make sense." Chat smiled, and without further warning, grabbed her around her waist and vaulted into the darkness.

"I can't believe they win any fight like this." Rabbit waved her head.

"Perhaps it is because of the reveal?" Horse shrugged.

"It must be."

Chat and Ladybug landed hard, straight onto the wielder of the peacock miraculous and then rolling over each other on top of the dragon.

"This was not precise and gentle landing." Ladybug complained, but as they came to a stop, Chat waved his claw.

"I have the chain with charms." he said and put it around his neck using the same arm still lying on top of Ladybug. She tried to push him away but he yelped "Fan" and ducked down pressing them both to stay low. Ladybug could see the fan outline as it flew between her eyes and the moon. Chat perked his ears up to detect the movement with his ears, he quickly sat up and caught the fan on its trajectory back to the peacock wielder. They both jumped to their feet. Chat stuck the fan in his belt while Ladybug wrapped her yoyo around Peacock (after several attempts due to the darkness and it saw Chat who signalled when she was successful).

"Okay, you have her now." Chat grinned. "Let's go."

The dragons flew up awkwardly and clumsily at first, as Chat was unsure how exactly to control them, but were soon steered to fly between and above the cliffs.

The peacock wielder decided not to detransform as then she would be a powerless civilian. This way, she might get loose from the strings and get back in control.

After the cliffs, they got to an area that was almost flat, the smooth surface raised and lowered in gentle waves.

"Could those be the sand dunes?" Chat asked. "There are deserts in China."

"Then I am really glad we are covering this area in the middle of the night." Ladybug replied.

After a while the sky was becoming lighter and the surface below was becoming darker as the sand was replaced by a grassy surface and fields. Just when the sun was about to rise, they reached a wide river.

They found the king transformed and running upstream on a small but fast red boat with black spots.

"Why do I always get something I have to figure out how to use it, while he got that?" Ladybug muttered.

They flew over to the king, but he spotted them. He called for the unification and another transformation. Ladybug swung her yoyo, it wrapped around the transformed man and she lifted him into the air. Chat Noir has already launched himself at the man aiming for his ears. Just when his claws touched the man's ears, four rays of light hit Ladybug, Chat Noir, Rabbit and Horse.

They all disappeared.

Ladybug opened her eyes. It was dark, it was difficult to move and hard to breathe. She wiggled a bit, but the more she moved the harder it became to move.

"Tikki, where are we?" Ladybug whispered. There was no answer. Ladybug tried with her fingers. She felt she had her gloves on meaning she was still transformed.

"Stay calm, Ladybug." she heard Chat Noir beside her. "We are buried alive. The more you move, the more soil prevents us from movement." he breathed out heavily.

"Maybe we could wiggle ourselves out?" Ladybug asked.

"I could try to dig ourselves out with my claws, but it would take a long time." Chat Noir pondered what to do. "On the other _hand_ I have a _hand_ for these things." He could feel Ladybug roll her eyes even while she was compressed by the layer of soil over them.

He reached with his left hand and found her then he reached out with his right hand and spoke.

"Cataclysm." he barely whispered under the weight that pressed over them. The soil above them crumbled into a small pile of dust and they dug out themselves from the remaining soil and dust. They were at a bottom of a very deep crater.

"You did gear job, Chaton." Ladybug whispered, amazed how deep they were. "We should not stay here for long, it could cave in."

Adrien detransformed and gave Plagg one piece of cheese.

"Be quick, Plagg, we might need you on the top." Adrien whispered.

She launched her yoyo and it attached onto something then she pulled Adrien close and pulled them up. They both grinned at each other on their way up.

"We are lucky he did not wish us dead." Ladybug sighed with relief. "At least something."

"You should not wish your enemies dead, Pigtails. Other enemies might rise instead. And trust me, this guy had a few." Plagg retorted.

"Where are Pema and Dorje? Or should I say Horse and Rabbit?" Ladybug asked.

"I would not worry too much about them, look!" Adrien pointed whit his finger. A portal formed above the ground about thirty meters away from where they were standing, on the edge of their crater. Soon, Horse and Rabbit got out from the portal with some dirt.

"Hi" Rabbit greeted dusting herself off. "Horse teleported us out. I'm glad you found your way out."

"Us too, for you I mean." Adrien replied. "And us too, I guess."

Horse detransformed into Dorje and fed his kwami.

"Do you have any idea where we are and where did he go?" Dorje asked.

"Well, if he had not wished us very far, then he is probably still close, we should be able to find him." Ladybug replied cheerful now that everyone was okay.

"Actually, could you hold on to this for a moment?" Adrien asked as he transformed back into Chat Noir. "Let's see if it still works." he said as he took the chain back and called upon the dragons.

"Wait, Chat, that could have brought them straight to us." Ladybug groaned.

"This cat learns fast." Chat Noir grinned.

Two dragons with no load landed.

"I guess the other two are taken with our lovely opponents for the day, My Lady." Chat motioned for them to climb the dragons.

"Are you able to control their dragons?" Ladybug asked when they took off.

Chat Noir gave it a thought and then nodded. "I can't tell where they are exactly, but."

"That is okay, as long as they do not know where we are." Ladybug spoke quietly.

"I have an idea." Chat grinned.

"Can you make them produce some noise?" Ladybug asked.

"Exactly." Chat put his index finger over his mouth.

Then he pointed in the general direction of – behind them. They turned around.

"We have to surprise him, to surprise them." Chat whispered. "Any ideas, My Lady?"

"He can't make a wish if he can't speak." Ladybug replied.

They were flying over the Tibetan highlands.

"You should hurry up, we are getting closer to the temple." Horse warned.

"It is much easier with the akuma, when they want to catch us." Ladybug was thinking out loud. "How come he did not try to take our miraculous?"

"He already has both of yours." Rabbit answered. "And I am not sure if he recognized the two of us as wielders, these two were fairly unknown."

"Lucky charm." Ladybug called and got a towel.

"Don't panic!" Chat grinned.

She looked around and saw Chat's baton and the fan he had taken from the peacock and Chat himself.

"Horse, you can teleport the two of you to safety when needed?" Ladybug asked and got confirmation as an answer. "Good. Chat, you are going to take the peacock miraculous from her first." She took the fan from his belt.

Chat stared at her. "Okay My Lady."

They approached the dragon that carried the peacock from the back.

She held his baton on one end while he extended it and held the other end. Chat dropped on Peacock, she grabbed the necklace while he went for the brooch. Ladybug spread the fan and waited, she threw it the moment the dragon disappeared. Then she spread the large red towel with black spots and used it to manoeuvre her fall. As she assumed, the transformed king first extended the baton to slow down his fall, but the fan hit it and it broke. He was falling straight down and was just about to yell, Ladybug ran into him and wrapped the towel around his mouth. She held the towel with one hand while she took the earrings off him, one by one with the other. His hand was too far to reach to take the ring off.

But, Chat used the woman and her robes to manoeuvre his fall and landed straight into them, he went for the ring first. The king detransfromed back into his normal clothes.

Finally, Chat extended his baton to slow down their fall and all four of them stumbled to the ground. Chat put away all the miraculous in his pocket, took Ladybug and vaulted away, they were very close to the temple already. Ladybug's earrings beeped their last warning.

Ladybug was looking into her towel.

"Do I?" she asked no one in particular and shrugged. Chat shrugged back as he carried her.

"Miraculous Ladybug" she tossed the towel in the air. After that Ladybug detransformed into Marinette. They saw Dorje and Rabbit waiting for them on the cliff and Chat went that way. When they landed, Dorje ran up to give the retrieved miraculous to the monks up there and then returned quickly.

"You did it!" Rabbit smiled. "You can detransform too." she told Chat.

"Claws in." Chat whispered and transformed into Adrien.

They went into the cave in silence. Adrien and Marinette exchanged few looks of admiration between them, mixed with disbelief and surprise. They knew it, but now they saw it. Adrien wrapped his arms around her and hugged her. He raised one hand and put it protectively over her had hiding her below his chin. Now that he knew, the urge to protect her was even stronger. They waited for some time, tired and quiet, until Dorje returned. Rabbit circled her umbrella and they wet through the portal to return to their own time, to return to the future.


	33. Chapter 33 - Know Your Enemy

Note: sorry for the typo's in the previous chapter, the doc in the doc manager was corrected but I was too quick to publish after updating it.

The art of war part three – know your enemy

_If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle. (Sun Tzu, The Art of War)_

"I think we were awake for three days." Marinette sighed exhaustedly.

"That would be about correct." Pema tilted her head as if computing in her head, smiled and nodded in confirmation.

Adrien smiled sheepishly. He had been awake for longer, as Aspik. But then, he was transformed the whole time. This time he was himself.

Pema and Dorje exchanged a few looks and even less words and then turned to the two teens.

"I think we all had enough. We can just sit and talk here until it is time for us go back up there for our dinner." Pema suggested as she sat down, exhausted from the ordeal.

Dorje plummeted to sit beside her with a loud sigh of relief.

Marinette produced one more cookie for Tikki and checked her pockets.

"It is the last one." the girl smiled.

"Thank you Marinette." the little red goddess bowed and looked at her chosen gratefully with her blue eyes.

"See Adrien, food first." Plagg groaned pointing his arm towards Tikki while he stared at Adrien.

"Mhm" Adrien replied his head in the pot where they brought rice, the lid to the pot in his left arm a spoon in his right filling his mouth with the food.

"Great minds think alike." Adrien teased between two bites.

"I mean food for me!" Plagg groaned.

Adrien scraped one more spoon of rice from the bottom and offered it to Plagg.

Plagg returned a disgusted look, then he crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow while his tail flipped left and right nervously.

"If you don't want cold rice for the tenth time in a day then you are not hungry." Adrien teased some more before he stuck the spoon in his mouth.

"There is no appreciation here." Plagg whined. "No reward for my troubles." the little cat like god zoomed around rolling his green eyes. "I am to suffer in pitiful existence of hunger and the complete lack of understanding for my ..."

Marinette grabbed one small package wrapped in cloth and smelled it. It was cheese. She scrunched her nose due to the smell and tossed the package, still wrapped in cloth at Plagg. Plagg stopped talking the moment the cloth touched him and phased through the cloth. The cheese that was wrapped inside disappeared in the process. The empty piece of cloth gently floated towards the ground, empty.

Pema and Dorje were already used to Plagg's tricks, but this was new for everybody. So everybody stared. But Tikki. She knew what the old god of cheese gluttony and destruction was able to annihilate.

"… needs." Plagg finished what he was saying.

Adrien gaped at the empty cloth on the ground.

"I could have saved myself days of time of unwrapping your Camembert." Adrien spoke in disbelief.

"Ah Camembert." Plagg sighed dreamily while he floated around the cave. "My precious Camembert."

"It is good for you that neither Nathalie nor my father ever bothered to check how much money I spend on cheese." Adrien waved his head.

"If you only listened to the two of them, we could have enjoyed Camembert for full two weeks." Plagg teased.

Adrien rolled his eyes. He could have spent the last six days in his room, locked up in the mansion, with no live company, save few video calls with Nino. Adrien tried to compute.

"Which day it is?" he asked suddenly.

"Thursday." Marinette sighed. "I was just thinking the same."

"And the last time we contacted Alya and Nino was two days ago. That was the last time I sent a reply to Nathalie." Adrien was worried.

"Alya and Nino will write responses on your behalf through that application, don't worry." Marinette smiled tiredly. "I am more worried about the akuma."

"What business does your father have here?" Pema asked. Dorje was listening attentively.

"I actually do not know. Nathalie and him went alone. He did not let me go with them." Adrien clenched his fist. He was still hurt by the treatment and he felt more comfortable expressing his feelings now than ever before (except maybe when he was Chat Noir).

"At the Charles de Gaulle airport, he was stopped for carrying something without proper paperwork." Marinette reminded.

"Yes, in Beijing airport, he was stopped at the customs for carrying pets without proper paperwork." Adrien replied remembering what he overheard while they passed. At the time he did no pay too much attention to what was said and just wanted to get away without being caught by his father.

"Pets? Your father has pets?" Marinette asked.

"Yeah, I did not know about it either. It took me to escape from home and eavesdrop on him at the Beijing airport to learn that my father has pets." Adrien shrugged.

"He carried a very small plastic container. I saw it on Paris airport. It must be some small animal." Marinette bit her lower lip deep in thought. What kind of a man would hide from his son that he had pets.

"It was pets, plural. And I think they said something about bugs or pests or ..." Adrien was looking for a right word. "You did not see what was inside?" Adrien asked Marinette.

"No, it was not transparent." Marinette waved her head.

"Anyway, they took his pets into the quarantine in Beijing." Adrien shrugged.

"I can't believe he never told you about having pets." Marinette sighed.

"I can't believe you did not tell me how you returned the book or made this scarf." Adrien replied. "I am not surprised by my father. He never tells me anything. He has so many secrets." Adrien waved his head. Marinette hung her head down at that. That was not what Adrien wanted.

"I broke into his safe once." Adrien smiled as he continued talking after a short period of silence.

"Technically, I broke into his safe once." Plagg crossed his arms and raised his nose as he floated in front of his chosen. "And what a pile of garbage he had in that safe."

"That is when I have stolen that book that you returned." Adrien elbowed Marinette playfully.

Marinette smiled back.

"You know, I suspected your father to be Hawk Moth back then, because he had that book." Marinette smiled.

"You did not suspect me? It was me who brought the book to school." Adrien reminded her smiling playfully.

"Um, I refused to believe that." Marinette admitted. Pema looked at the girl with her eyes wide. Then she explained the conversation to Dorje who rolled his eyes.

"Just like you refused to believe I am Chat Noir when Alya suggested it." Adrien winked.

Marinette groaned.

"But then your father got akumatized and that laid suspicion away from him." the girl sighed.

"Are you sure Hawk Moth is not able to akumatize his civilian self?" Pema asked carefully.

"I, um, the two of us can only use our powers when transformed. I assumed the butterfly would automatically be de-evilized or disappear once Hawk Moth de-transformed." Marinette shrugged her shoulders.

"But the consequences of your doing exist after you de-transform." Adrien piped in. "If I cataclysm something and de-transform, it stays that way unless you fix it." he smiled at Marinette.

"So if he evilizes a butterfly and de-transforms, the butterfly will still carry evil." Adrien concluded.

"So Hawk Moth can akumatize himself." Marinette nodded in satisfaction they have reached a conclusion.

"But why would he do that?" Adrien asked himself thinking out loud.

"To create the strongest akuma yet? To produce an akuma when nobody was angry or sad enough to be akumatized? To … I don't know?" Marinette guessed the best she could.

"To remove suspicion from himself?" Pema added with a raised eyebrow.

The two teens sighed under the weight of their thoughts.

"Why have you returned the book?" Dorje asked. They discussed it last night, but he wanted to push the conversation just like Pema did.

"My father pulled me out from school as a punishment for stealing the book. Marinette brought it back and somehow persuaded my father to return me to school." Adrien explained.

"How did you persuade Adrien's father to return him to school when you returned the book, Marinette?" Pema asked.

Marinette told the story how the events unfolded, every detail that she could remember.

"He met you in person?" Adrien asked surprised.

"Yeah, he was standing on the grand staircase in the lobby of the Agreste mansion." Marinette laughed. "He took the book and said it was a source of inspiration for him." she said thoughtfully. "Then he asked me about my earrings." she added casually.

"Your earrings?" both Adrien and Pema exclaimed in unison, so loudly that Dorje jumped up where he sat.

"Yes." Marinette confirmed firmly. "Then he asked about my earrings." she added thoughtfully looking into her hands.

Everyone was staring at Marinette.

"What else was in that safe, Plagg?" Tikki chirped.

"Ah, some book on Tibet, a leaflet from a hotel, some junk." Plagg counted in his head.

"What junk? How did it look like?" Pema pushed with her questions.

"Some ugly piece of jewellery, it looked like the tail of that big fancy chicken." Plagg waved his hand.

"You mean the peacock?" Marinette exclaimed.

Adrien lost any ability to speak.

Marinette wrapped her arm around the boy and reminded him to breathe.

"Yeah." Plagg confirmed thoughtfully. The little black cat like god of destruction was feeling stupid. He was a god. You should know gods seldom feel stupid. Gods should never feel stupid. Gods should never be stupid. And yet, this time, he was.

Marinette held Adrien for a long time. The boy wrapped his arms around her waist and buried his face in her neck. He struggled to breathe. Once he caught a few breaths, they quickly turned into sobs. He cried his heart out, holding the girl like a lifeline, like the only sort of comfort he could possibly have. He was crushing under the weight of the information. He tried to reason it wrong. He tired to find something wrong in their reasoning, he wanted to plant a seed of doubt, to show how the conclusion they reached was not certain. He wanted to hope.

Pema and Dorje collected the things they brought silently. Plagg and Tikki phased through the jackets of their wielders and hid in any warm and cosy place they found inside on their own. Marinette held Adrien as they climbed back up on the narrow ledge. Dorje helped substantially by making sure none of the teens slips and falls.

Adrien let his feet move on their own. He let Dorje raise him to his feet. He allowed Marinette to lead him along the narrow ledge. He let Pema stroke soothing moves on his forearm as she helped guide the boy over the treacherous cliff. Marinette held him and guided their direction towards the entrance to the temple. Dorje put the black cap back on the boy's head.

"They are very tired. They are not used to the chores we do." Pema explained their behaviour to the government officials at the entrance to the temple. Adrien hid his wet and red face in Marinette's neck.

They met Ye and Ling in the corridor.

"What happened." they both asked in unison.

"Young man" Dorje spoke to Ye. "Would you be so kind as to help me get this man to the bathroom and clean him and change him before the dinner.?"

Ye nodded and the two of them took Adrien away.

Only then, it has became obvious to Pema and Ling that Marinette is not any better, so they took the girl to the bathroom too. Ling run for the fresh clothes, while Pema removed her clothing, helped her get washed with a wet cloth and cold water from the bucket.

The cold water helped both teens become more aware of their surroundings so they were able to put back fresh underwear and their onesies. They were taken to the meal room and were given their food. They ate automatically, like robots, their exhausted bodies asked for food and their hands provided, their mouths chewed and swallowed yet another meal of rice that day, that endless day that last for several days already for the two teens.

"That was too much for them in one day." Pema spoke as she waved her head. Dorje agreed.

"But we had to do it today, we do not know how much time we have." Dorje whispered.

"What happened to them?" Ling demanded from the two monks, half worried half angry.

"There was too much of everything, the physical exertion, the information they learned, everything was just too much. Please let them have their rest." Pema pleaded.

Marinette thanked Ye and Ling for taking them to their sleeping bag while Adrien was clinging to her. The girl tried to reach the zipper and close the sleeping bag, but could not. Ling zipped it up and wished them 'good night and sleep tight'. Marinette managed to turn while being held by Adrien and wrap her arms around him. She knew they were extremely tired, and yet, they would be lucky if they managed to fall asleep at all.


	34. Chapter 34 - TheArt ofWar P4 - Deception

The art of war part four – deception

_All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when we are able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must appear inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near. (Sun Tzu, The Art of War)_

They laid awake in their sleeping bag, holding each other tight and just breathing. Too many things have happened. Too many facts were revealed during the day. The other students chatted sitting around. It was still early, it was not completely dark yet.

Adrien felt like he knew more about Hawk Moth than about his father as a person. What was the truth anyway? And did he even care? Yes he did, in a strange way, but he did. He moved a little bit in their sleeping bag so his nose was close to Marinette's ear.

"I would like to know why he is doing all this." Adrien whispered. Marinette made a small movement herself and hugged him tighter. "But only because it might help us beat them, I mean us as Ladybug and Chat Noir."

"Yeah, we still do not know why." Marinette whispered. "But, we should rest, Adrien, we need some sleep."

One monk brought a cup with herbal tea and offered to the two teens. Marinette nudged Adrien to untangle and sit up. It took some persuasion but he gave in and they shared the cup of tea. They felt calmer as they drank it. Obviously, the monks decided the two teens should get some herbal remedy to calm down and possibly get some sleep.

As soon as the cup was empty, Adrien showed it back to the monk and pulled Marinette closer. He practically lost his family. He needed her. He wished her parents were there so he could tell them everything and hope for some parental love from them.

"We will think of that when we wake up." Marinette whispered while she tried to soothe him by rubbing circles into his back.

"They told us to check on you." Ling spoke quietly as she touched their foreheads. "Would you let us know if you need anything?"

"Thank you, Ling." Marinette nodded in response and Ling turned away to let them have their peace.

"Adrien, we will find a way how to go on after this all this discoveries, we are in this together okay?" she cooed.

"You and me, together?" Adrien whispered back, his eyes closing and his head tilting down.

"Yes." Marinette smiled. They both fell asleep.

Adrien stirred awake. He was not sure what woke him up, it might have been a nightmare, but he forgot all about it the moment he woke up. There were many noises around him, but none of them was very loud. He looked around, as much as he could see without moving.

It was the middle of the night, but there were many students awake, their faces lit up by their mobile phones. They typed and few of them apparently called someone. Several students were laughing, weather they were talking on the phone or simply reading messages. One was crying about his wounded feet. Another took a photo of his feet and posted it on social media.

Adrien extended his arm for his phone and discovered a girl sleeping on his shoulder. It was Marinette. It was Ladybug. Ladybug was sleeping on his shoulder in their sleeping bag. He forgot about everything else and smiled. He was already so used to her by his side that he did not register the weight on his shoulder.

Since he moved, Marinette woke up too. She fluttered her eyes open and saw Adrien staring at her in the weak light. His face was gentle, there was no trace of sadness or anxiety. Even his eyes were not that red nor puffy as when they fell asleep. It might have been the darkness or it might have been the tea. She was feeling much better too.

"What are you looking at?" Marinette smiled.

"A sleeping bug in a sleeping bag." Adrien smirked.

Marinette rolled her eyes. And then she smiled widely. He was probably better, she hoped it was not an act. His eyes smiled at her in the darkness.

"Hey, you two awake?" Ye asked from the side. Ling was talking very quickly on her phone. "The army and the government officials, they installed network and gave us access a few hours ago. You can try."

Adrien switched on his phone and logged into the network using the Id number he got when applying for the excursion. His face lit up when he saw the inflow of messages.

"Alya handled everything." he smiled. There were many messages from Nino and he scrolled through and read them all quickly. The pictures would not read in and he did not even try to open the links to different songs that Nino sent.

Marinette fetched her phone and switched it on with an intention to write to her parents. The amount of received message notifications prevented her to type anything. She saw many of them were from Alya. She sent a quick message to her parents _'Hi, reached the temple last night and reached network an hour ago. Everything is fine.'_ and then decided to start the message to Alya with the same text. She typed quickly a few things about the temple as she promised to Alya. She also wrote her to state her source as Chinese student and explained the general situation a bit more before she finally clicked on send. Alya insisted she sent some information about the temple for the Ladyblog. Marinette was worried about hiding her identity and fooling the authorities and the whole deal. She felt cold, but more like cold because she was so tired not because it was actually too cold.

"Hey, we should give them one more video call, what do you think?" Adrien moved his head up from his phone only to see Marinette smiling at him. She was relieved that he was recovering from the bad news. At least, he appeared that way. He pressed the button for the video call and pulled Marinette closer with his other hand. She kept under the cover and snuggled closer for warmth. He moved too quickly for her to ask how he really felt.

"Hey there." Adrien greeted as soon as Nino answered. "We got network after a few days. How are things at home?"

"Dude, I'm glad you called. Fortunately, there was only one call per day and we used your recorded messages to post as a voicemail reply. And they bought it. Just how much time you spend in the shower, dude?" Nino laughed. "And it is really good that you gave this job to Alya, because there are no akuma appearing at all and she is boooored!"

"Okay, thank you, she could write a piece about the absence of akumas." Adrien retorted sarcastically.

"Yeah, she did it already, a few times actually." Nino replied. "Ah yes, you could not have read it, the fantastic pieces of literature titled 'Is Hawk Moth on vacation' and 'Do we expect akumas on some exotic tropical islands or in ski resorts?' and so on." Nino laughed as he remembered what Alya wrote. Adrien's face changed through several emotions as he remembered why there were no akuma in Paris.

"Nino, hi" Marinette greeted waving her hand and then pulling it back under the cover. "Were there any sightings reported of Ladybug and Chat Noir on a patrol?" she asked quietly. It was also a good change of subject without really changing the subject.

Adrien grinned. Of course, they were not there, but this did not mean someone was not passing some old photos.

"Yeah." Nino replied. "Alya is just going nuts about those, she did not see them once herself but there is a bunch of photos posted around and submitted to the blog."

"Well, perhaps she could write up something on Ladybug and Chat Noir possibly doing patrols, you know, just to kill time?" Marinette proposed quietly.

"Great idea" Nino yelled to the phone.

"Great idea" Adrien whispered to her ear. If Hawk Moth sees that, he might believe they are still in Paris.

"I have sent some information about the temple to Alya. Please check how she named her sources, she can get carried away." Marinette continued with her scheme. It was also a change of subject from Adrien's father and Nathalie. She felt his approval in the way his arm tightened around her.

"Yeah, I think she is reading it right now, she is screaming onto her phone over there." Nino turned his phone around and they could see Alya sitting on the sofa in her living room. Her twin sisters were chasing Nino's brother around. Again.

"So how are the two of you doing. How it is over there?" Nino asked casually.

"Well, it is cold … and dark." Adrien smiled. "It is the middle of the night, but almost everyone is on the phone, look around." Adrien raised the phone and turned around so Nino could see.

"Dude it is too dark over there for me to see anything." Nino laughed.

"Well, it is a huge room, almost like our gym at school..." Adrien spoke.

"Dude you are at least used to that." Nino joked.

"...and there are many of us, perhaps almost a hundred, in the sleeping bags on the floor." Adrien continued.

"Well, that is different." Nino winked.

"Some of them are sleeping in the hallway. And it is cold. There is no hot water." Adrien tried and failed to sound as if he complained about anything.

"The monks are really nice." Marinette chipped in. "They are teaching the students about their ways of life and their mythology."

"That is great, you should write to Alya about it." Nino put a thumbs up. Marinette rolled her eyes, she just did, but she smiled anyway.

"Hey babe, they phoned, look." Nino finally sat by Alya who put her phone away.

"Hi Adrien." Alya leaned over and squinted her eyes to the phone. Then she tilted the phone a bit to get a better angle and view on the screen.

"Hi Mar… where are you and what are you two doing?!" Alya practically screamed.

"Um, it is rather dark in here." Marinette stumbled her words out pretending to check her surroundings.

"We are lying down in our sleeping bag." Adrien grinned.

Niho whistled. Alya screamed in a pillow.

The picture on the phone flickered.

"Listen, the signal is quite bad, if we go off that means it is gone." Marinette piped in.

"Don't you signal me, young lady!" Alya groaned but Nino removed the phone from her face.

"Dude!" Nino grinned and showed a thumbs up.

Adrien smirked back. Marinette switched her eyes towards his face but could not really see him because of the bad angle. She looked back into the phone.

"It is killing her that she can't gossip about the two of you." Nino winked as he turned the phone to show Alya holding a pillow in front of her face.

"Hey, I left my reputation in your hands." Adrien complained. "Don't ruin it!" he warned mockingly as he winked while he talked. Nino stared at his friends face on the phone. Adrien looked exhausted and happy. He said they were sleeping in a room full of people. Marinette was just there, he could not ask questions, at least not those he wanted to ask. Those will wait for written messages.

"Don't worry, as far as the public and your father is concerned, you are safely locked up in your tower." Nino winked back. Adrien winced at the mention of his father, both Marinette and Nino noticed. Marinette moved to put her arm around him and Nino noticed that too. So Adrien was hurt by his father, for being left out from the journey and he found comfort in Marinette? Well that was great if it worked out for the two of them.

"Nino, how are you doing?" Marinette asked and Nino started about his playlists and being annoyed by his younger brother whom he had to take care of more often than not. While he spoke, Alya removed the pillow from her face and blurted some words out. The words themselves were obscured by Nino's talk about music, but Marinette recognized the meaning and blushed.

"Listen I will have to cut this call." Nino evaded a move from Alya. "Otherwise she will go nuts again." And then the call was finished.

Adrien could not and would not make himself go through the messages from Nathalie nor attempt to write any additional reply to what Alya already did. He was even more grateful now that his friends would pick up on messaging back, because he was not sure what he would write himself.

He sent a few messages to his bodyguard that they reached the temple, but mostly had no phone signal and everything was hunky dory.

And Marinette did send one more message to her mother just a moment before her phone rang. It was Alya.

Alya screamed loudly, but the words were beyond comprehension.

"Alya, calm down. I am fine. We are fine." She jawed. Nothing was fine, they just discovered Adrien's father and her idol for her chosen future profession were the very villain they fought. They also discovered each other's identities, but even that seemed irrelevant at that point.

"Listen, why don't you tell me about those sightings of Ladybug and Chat Noir on their patrol?" Marinette tried to change the subject. There were more screams in response. "Yeah, why don't you write an article about that for the Ladyblog and ask people to report if anyone have seen them. Yeah, they must be really bored too. They probably got fat for the lack of physical activities. And they ate a lot of cookies being nervous and expecting the next attack. Yeah, they probably learned how to play chess." Adrien was barely preventing himself to laugh out loud. Then Marinette talked a bit about the temple and how she saw no superheroes inside the temple but promising few photos and so on. "Yes, you can do that. Okay. Bye Alya" Marinette greeted and cut the connection.

"Do you want to play Chess, My Lady?" Adrien grinned in the darkness.

Marinette rolled her eyes.

"It is late, it is dark, I am tired, I want to sleep, you should sleep too, Chaton." she whispered.

"Yeah." Adrien grinned, he laid on his back and held Marinette so that her head was on his shoulder, she put her arm over his chest and closed her eyes.

He wrapped his arms around her and sighed. His father was a psycho creating monsters and engaged his assistant into the business. But also, he learned the identity of his lady, ant it was the best girl possible, the one he loved already, and she was right there, by his side, and that was all he really needed right then, wasn't it? He closed his eyes and concentrated on Marinette's breathing. Soon, he fell asleep again.


	35. Chapter 35 - Gabriel and Nathalie Part 1

The Gabriel and Nathalie chapter

In his office, Gabriel watched the news footage of the temple taken from the Chinese government helicopter. He rewinded it so many times and yet he was not satisfied with what he saw.

"There must be more information there than in the Book of Lore. There might be more miraculous stones there. We have to go there. I trust you to organize everything, Nathalie." he concluded. It was an order. Nathalie replied with one firm nod and strolled out from the office.

"Sir, I mentioned our travel to China to Adrien and he would like to join us." Nathalie said in one breath and then got ready to receive an answer.

"That would be most inconvenient. It is out of the question." Gabriel dismissed the notion.

"Would you care to tell him that yourself?" Nathalie asked patiently. She did not want to resolve this with Adrien on her own.

"Fine, bring him in here before breakfast." Gabriel snarled and dismissed her with a wave of his hand. He was annoyed he would have to deal with Adrien himself instead of making Nathalie do it for him, she deserved such treatment if she could not handle the boy on her own.

The next morning, Nathalie led Adrien to Gabriel's office instead of the breakfast room.

"I was informed of your whim to go to China with us. Well, I am here informing you that we are going on a serious business trip, very important for our business in China and we can not take care of a mere child on our way there." Gabriel spilled insults in his stern voice as he stood tall above the boy who sat in his 'hot chair'.

"But father, why do I take all these Chinese lessons if I never practice it for real." Adrien argued back. How dare he? Gabriel schooled himself to show the most caring face he could muster. It was not much. Adrien continued to whine and take up his time, Gabriel bothered with a few more rebuttals before he had enough.

"Adrien, you have not been brought up to commit such atrocities." And with those words, Gabriel dismissed his son.

He left it to Nathalie to settle the paperwork and pack, to book the plane tickets and to organize accommodation. He spent his days going through the information from the book (finding nothing new) and frantically rewinding the news footage over and over again. He could not be bothered for a meal with Adrien in this condition.

He spent hours staring at the container that held Emilie.

Friday finally arrived and he collected about twenty white butterflies in a small plastic container together with sufficient leaves and flowers for them to eat, but not enough space to fly. At the boarding gate, the attendant was polite and professional, but completely unoriginally dressed. Who designs those clothes, anyway, and what is the purpose of that uniform? It was a disgrace for an airport of the city that was the world fashion capital. She dared to point her finger at his plastic container.

"I am really sorry sir, but you can't take this on board if you do not have the proper paperwork." She held her polite smile, but she collected all her courage to approach a business class passenger with some authority.

"My boss needs this with him on this trip." Nathalie was explaining. What kind of explanation was that. It was her job to secure the paperwork. And she had failed.

"We can not guarantee that you would be able to enter the country with these once you arrive." The airport official was becoming more courageous. How ridiculous her courage looked in that suit, utterly ridiculous.

"Then it is under my responsibility." Gabriel Agreste decided it was time to bother to speak and take the things into his own hands. Everyone else was apparently unable to be of any use.

"Then sign these forms, please, sir." The official pulled out some forms and Gabriel signed them quickly, he did not even bother to read them. Nathalie was not happy about them, she was getting ready to read the documents carefully, but Gabriel did not intend to spend one more second being stared at at the boarding gates of an airport terminal He could feel how they all looked at him. The man was so annoyed, he never bothered to look around. People with less self control than him might try to fuss, but not him. He did not want any attention on this voyage. Nathalie was focused on the boarding attendant and the paperwork the whole time. Finally, she was focused on the paperwork, he made a mental note to scold her for missing out on preparing the paperwork for the transport of the butterflies they carried in a small bug container (not that he notified her about that). She took a copy of the forms and they passed the boarding gates and entered the tube that lead to the airplane. Fortunately, in an airplane this big, the business class passengers were well separated from the economy and he will not have to watch all those commoners pass by his seat while going to the back of the plane and their economy seats.

The flight was … long and blissfully uneventful. However, on the airport he had to face the next menace in the shape of the customs officials. One of them dared to take the precious plastic container away from Nathalie's caring hands.

"What do you mean you have to put them in the quarantine? How long will it last? We have a connecting flight." he protested where he stood, hidden from the rest of the passengers by some hideous paravan that held a touristic commercial to visit some obscure and crowded place.

"I am sorry sir, you do not have the proper paperwork for importing animals into China. You can get the paperwork done and your animals can stay in the quarantine while you do it." The official replied calmly but obviously enjoying himself and his authority. That was just too much. Just who does this guy thinks he is.

"I refuse to part with them. I insist on having them with me on our voyage." Gabriel protested. He was ready to pull his political connections. His production line was made in China, he was giving jobs to these people.

"You can reschedule your connecting flight and stay in the hotel on the airport but your animals are going to the quarantine." The official insisted and that was the moment when Nathalie suggested they do just that.

He signed more paperwork and they looked for a taxi. The taxi was smelly and they spent most of the morning and part of the afternoon crawling through traffic from one hotel to another as they did not make a reservation in advance and Nathalie could not arrange it over the phone from the taxi.

Finally they found some acceptable hotel with acceptable suite of a person of his calibre. He insisted not to take that particular hotel at first, because he knew the owners daughter made herself famous and still wore clothes designed by other designers, and not just his.

The next morning he expected to be reunited with his plastic container with butterflies and board the next flight to Lhasa, but then he learned that a veterinarian (of all people, who would ever consult such a person?) have recommended that the butterflies be examined by another expert from the university and this expert required for his precious bugs to be kept imprisoned in the airport quarantine for seven days. That was unacceptable, utterly unacceptable and everyone responsible should get fired.

So he made a phone call.

Apparently the same factory that produced garments for him, also produced about two hundred lines of clothes for about twenty different designers and not only him and they actually had a waiting list and would be more than happy to cut the contract with his fashion industry (with due regret etc.).

That went down the drain. Well, as long as they were there, he made Nathalie to search for a different factory to produce his items. He had to kill some time. And perhaps a vet.

He stared through the hotel window at the city covered in fog. The tall buildings were rising above, but the street below was not visible. He found that arrangement rather fortunate.

What was not fortunate was that in the city of more than twenty million people there were always candidates to be akumatized. And he had no butterflies to do that. It was awful.

Nathalie informed him that the booking to their room expired tomorrow and that she could not reschedule their plane tickets for Lhasa any more so they should simply continue, and then they would came back for the butterflies once they were cleared from the quarantine.

So they boarded a propeller plane to Lhasa. The space was tiny. He sat in the front in the business class seat and literally all the passengers passed in front of him and even few tripped over his feet (they dared to touch his shoes with their plain hiking boots). He remembered wearing completely different clothes while in Tibet, but he left Nathalie to organize that. Emilie did that the last time he was there. Besides they were only at airports and hotels. He should not be seen in anything but his classic designed clothes.

The passengers were all Chinese and several had small plastic cages where they carried small dogs or cats and one even carried a chicken of all things while he missed his poor butterflies who suffered immensely in some cold and grey quarantine office.

Finally, they landed in Lhasa, quite shaken, but not stirred and proceeded to their accommodation. The hotel was stylish but it was full of loud tourists so he chose to confine himself into his hotel room. That was not sufficient for him since the tourists also used the hallways and produced the noise even there. They rolled their suitcases on the floor in front of his door. His sensitive ears and soul could not possibly bear that. The only good thing was that the people and tourists in Lhasa were vaccinated from bad emotions so he missed his butterflies much less.

Although he would often seek comfort in Nathalie and she would readily offer it, he was becoming more annoyed by her. Apparently, she could not organize any means of transport for them to go to the temple.

Another day has passed and he stared at the giant temple in Lhasa through his hotel room window. The view was excellent, he had to admit. Nathalie informed him that she overheard a conversation that a group of students is going to the temple with buses.

"Buses?" Gabriel snarled. "A helicopter would have been a better solution."

"The area is restricted. It is already too late in the day, the best would be to try that in the morning." Nathalie insisted.

So there he was, before the dawn, on some muddy parking lot full of dirty and old and smelly buses. And they said they would not take him in the bus. As if! He could at least rent a proper vehicle and a driver for that. They got directed to the tourist office.

The woman in the tourist office was firm, no going to the temple, no tours organized, no nothing, the special research team is going there, as arranged by the government, the army and the monks themselves agreed on the scheme. And that was that.

The man who presented himself to be her boss, on the other hand, was a different story. After a few bills were passed, he got out phrases like 'anything could be arranged' and he will 'make sure to answer all the gentleman's needs'.

They did not hear from him again (at least not later that day nor the next one when they finally went back there to check on him).

The same lady said that her boss was in Beijing for a week.

His shoes and his suit were ruined from the walking in the rocky and muddy street and he was not in the mood for anyone. He wandered about how the things were going in the Agreste mansion, back in Paris. Nathalie persuaded him that everything was business as usual in the house and that she checked with Adrien regularly.

Nathalie tried to persuade him to go visit the Lhasa temple the next day. She even brought some trekking shoes and trousers and a jacket to go with that. She lamented how these items were unique and from the most expensive shop she could find in Lhasa. After a few hours of sulking and Nathalie's persistent insistence, he changed into the 'proper outdoor clothing' and walked out from the hotel with Nathalie.

It was noisy and crowded with tourists, he remembered visiting the same place with Emilie and missed her.

He was annoyed by the crowd and finally settled to catch some peace and more breath on one open space inside the temple. Nathalie went somewhere to see something. The view was bad (hence no tourists taking pictures) but there was some fresh air and he breathed.

And then he saw it.

A white butterfly landed on a plant nearby, just out of his reach. It was the same shape and similar colour to his butterflies, just had a few additional black veins in its wings.

"Aporia crataegi" a loud woman's voice spoke from his back.

"What?" he turned around and saw a short and sturdy woman wearing too many colours at once. The pink jacket with yellow accents (that probably reflected light in the dark), the red waterproof trousers with black vertical lines on the sides and a huge company logo on her thigh. The light blue climbing shoes with lime green shoelaces. And, on the top of all that, a cap with a huge cartoon character face imprinted on the space above her forehead, the cartoon character was smiling widely at him.

"I said Aporia crataegi." the woman smiled widely. "The black-veined white." she smiled again and motioned towards the butterfly. "It is a large butterfly of the family Peridae."

Gabriel Agreste schooled his face and stood straight watching the silly looking woman from above, very high above, towering above, for he was exceptionally tall, and she was exceptionally short.

"It is very common butterfly in Tibet." she grinned.

"A very common butterfly?" he asked incredulously. A butterfly, that was obviously related to his exceptional and exquisite butterflies, was called common by this woman?

"Yes, you can find them everywhere." the woman smiled and gestured widely with her hands.

He held his hands firmly behind his back and furrowed his eyebrows.

He busied himself by staring at the funny looking woman until Nathalie interrupted him. She dragged over a male person dressed in some kind of grey uniform.

"This is my boss, he can help you if you help him." Nathalie stated simply. The funny looking woman who knew her butterflies finally turned around and left them to their business.

The man wanted to be employed as the organizer of work in Gabriel's sewing facility in China. He had some experience in the industry but chose to change it for a better paid job. Now he would prefer to go back to the more developed east of China if he could only have a better paid job again. And yes, his current job was to organize the delivers of supplies for the army. They struck a deal. Gabriel returned to his hotel room feeling not really satisfied but with a conclusion that today was at least acceptable and not a complete waste of time.

That was until some rude tourist rolled another piece of luggage along the corridor in front of his room followed by rather noisy steps of someone who obviously wore climbing boots and a heavy backpack.


	36. Chapter 36 - Strenghts and Weaknesses

The art of war part five – Strengths and weaknesses

_I will force the enemy to take our strength for weakness, and our weakness for_

_strength, and thus will turn his strength into weakness. (Sun Tzu, The Art of War)_

Marinette woke up because the body next to her was breathing erratically and shaking. She managed to take one breath and remember where she was and what was going on. Her brain knew it was Adrien who was sleeping next to her even before she woke up, she just had to remember why he could have been so distressed in his sleep. Okay, he has a nightmare.

She held him tight and squeezed a little bit to wake him up. She pressed his face into her to muffle his scream as he woke up. She expected he had nightmares after they realized Hawk Moth was his father and all of the other events from the day before. She did not expect what she heard next.

Adrien woke up from the same nightmare he had since his mother disappeared. But this time he was held by someone. He felt the hard surface he lied on. He felt the arms holding him tight and he felt he held the same person back. Then he remembered where he was and that it was Marinette. This time he did not wake up alone in his room to hear the echoes of his own screams. Plagg would soothe him and recommend to take some cheese before going to bed. The little god of destruction recommended cheese for any remedy.

"I'm glad you're not cheese." Adrien smiled and relaxed a bit. Marinette stiffened.

They both heard Plagg groan from beneath the sleeping bag cover.

"I have this same nightmare about my mother, and whenever I wake up like this, Plagg always recommends eating some cheese." the boy concluded some explanation was in order. Marinette relaxed. She thought the nightmare was about his father (and possibly cheese). She decided against telling him that. It was probably better not to remind him of that issue too.

"Hey, it helps me." Plagg retorted.

"Cheese helps you with anything." Tikki chirped from under the cover. "It does not mean it works for everybody else."

"The nightmare is, she is leaving and I am there but like I am not, she is just slowly fading away and then she disappears. And I can scream and call her or do anything, she fades away each time." Adrien whispered. Marinette relaxed and tried fall back asleep as she was still tired, but Adrien wanted to talk. So she held onto him and hoped he will not drift into some desperate state after he remembered his father. He was not given a chance to do just that. Neither she got a chance to catch some sleep.

"The morning is coming, it is time to prepare the food for breakfast." One monk approached them. Marinette grunted as she got up, but Adrien followed with more cheerfulness in his moves. They got up and walked in the general direction of the kitchen in the dark corridor when they got pulled aside and urged to climb the stairs again. This time they knew what to expect.

When they got into the room, the sky outside was not completely black any more. They sat down on the carpet and were handed a cup of tea each. They both sipped their tea and took in their surrounding. Dorje and Pema looked tired and held on to their own cups like lifelines. The old monk Tenzin had a satisfied look on his face and stroked his beard gently as he observed the four people sitting on his carpet. Dolma, on the other hand, stared at them.

"You did everything I expected from you yesterday." Tenzin spoke but Dolma interrupted him.

"Even more than expected." she put her nose up.

"May I compliment you on your progress." Tenzin gave one firm nod. Pema and Dorje gave a nod back so Marinette and Adrien followed suit after Adrien translated the words.

"Today we discuss strengths and weaknesses." Tenzin announced. "What are your weaknesses?"

Adrien translated the question and sipped from his cup.

"My biggest weakness is that it is not yet today in my time frame." Marinette mumbled. Pema snickered and nodded her head in agreement. Then she said something short.

"I understand you are tired. And that is a weakness indeed." Tenzin confirmed.

"We know each other's identities." Marinette spoke.

"That could also be our strength." Adrien countered.

"You are right. It can be both. So which one is it going to be?" Tenzin hummed as he stroked his beard and watched the two teens.

"We have to turn it into our strength." Marinette mumbled.

"My father is Hawk Moth." Adrien spoke solemnly.

"Yes, but now you know their identity, that is also your strength." Dolma retorted. Tenzin waved his head.

"It means I was fighting my father, this whole time." Adrien whispered.

"Hey, you should have stood up for yourself against him more." Plagg cut in. Adrien smiled and scratched Plagg between his ears.

"They do not know our identity, that is our strength." Adrien hoped that was the case at least.

"Gabriel suspects me, for sure. He asked about my earrings." Marinette added. "Would he fight so hard if he knew you were Chat Noir?" she turned to Adrien.

"He would have locked me up in my room and took away my ring." Adrien waved his head. There was no way his father would not have used that for his own benefit.

"We do not know why they are doing this. That is out weakness." Marinette whispered.

"That is probably your biggest weakness." Tenzin nodded.

"They want to make a wish." Dolma exclaimed. "Why else?"

"Yes, but what wish? What could your father possibly wish for?" Marinette looked at Adrien. The boy was puzzled. "He is already rich and powerful. World domination? Have I seen to many films?"

"I don't know. He might wish my mother back, but that is something I might wish for and right now I am not sure if that is what he wants at all." Adrien replied. There were too many emotions swirling inside him. The tea has woken him up completely and the whole whirlwind was playing inside of his head and his chest.

"And would you wish for that too?" Dolma pointed her eyes directly into Adrien as if she was boring holes into him. "And what would you do to make that wish come true?"

Adrien was puzzled. What would he do to have his mother back? At one moment he was ready to do anything. But what was he really ready to do? If his mother was back, would he continue to go to the public school and see his friends? Probably not. The only friend he had while she was alive was Chloe.

"What would you do to make his wish come true?" Dolma stared at Marinette. The truth was she would do anything to make him truly happy. But she also had a duty to protect Paris and the World against Hawk Moth. And he had the same duty and she doubted he would be happy if he betrayed himself as Chat Noir.

"If my mother never disappeared, I would never go to public school, I would not make friends save Chloe, and I would never meet Marinette." Adrien whispered. "As much as I love my mother, I like my life now better than the life I had before, I like my friends, I love being Chat Noir and I love Marinette." He whispered, his eyes got blur. Dolma changed the expression on her face to something less victorious. Plagg danced a small victory dance. Tikki flew to Adrien and patted his teary face.

"And that is, even without thinking of the price I would have to pay to make that wish come true." Adrien turned to Marinette and took her hand.

"I just want you to be happy, Adrien. And I know you would not be happy knowing what your father did to bring your mother back." Marinette smiled gently and squeezed his hand. That is when he pulled her into a hug.

"I would not be happy even if I would not know, even if he made me forget. I just would not know that I could be happy." the boy replied.

Marnette hugged him back.

"I might not have a home to come back to, or at least that I want to come back to." Adrien whispered. "But I did not have a home there for a long time now, just a house, just a room in a house."

"Well it is a big room." Plagg cut in teasingly. "You can store a lot of cheese in there."

"Plagg" several people and one red kwami groaned.

"Plagg" Adrien laughed through his tears.

Then they continued with the strengths and weaknesses game. They concluded that Hawk Moth and Mayura must know the identities of each other. Then they turned to the subject of what they know, and everything they knew was probably limited to what was written in the Book of Lore. And that was if one would know how to decipher it.

"Will they know our identities when they come to the temple?" Adrien asked.

"Probably, but not necessarily." Dolma answered. "They were not chosen, they took the miraculous by force."

"There is magic in this temple that we do not know and control completely." Tenzin spoke lost in thought.

"Do they know about the cursed stone?" Marinette asked out of the blue.

"Hm" Tenizin hummed and stroked his beard and hummed some more.

"That is the reason not to transform in the temple?" Adrien added.

Dolma huffed.

"Do not even try that kid." Plagg crossed his arms.

"On the temple grounds, you should not transform and try to use your magic. Something always goes differently than you intended." Tikki warned.

"You have been warned about the cursed stone by the kwami?" Tenzin asked. "Well, we are not aware of such stone. There are legends, of course, spoken between the kwami."

"My experience is not a legend." Plagg crossed his arms.

"What happened?" Adrien asked.

"You know how you have enhanced all senses and the power of destruction while Ladybug has lucky charm and the cleansing power and the power to restore everything, but her senses are normal human?" Plagg asked. Adrien and Marinette nodded in response.

Tenzin took in a deep breath. Pema and Dorje listened intently. Dolma sighed and looked at the ceiling.

"Well, we used to restore everything together, she would create what was destroyed and I would destroy what was created." Plagg started with his explanation.

"That actually makes sense." Adrien nodded.

"It was not much different, Ladybug could restore Chat Noir, but not vice versa." Tikki warned.

"But I can still cataclysm it?" Adrien asked.

"Yes, but it is not actually the same. You have to touch it first. This could work from a distance on many things, but only for items created by evil magic." Plagg explained.

"Until, one day, a cursed stone was created and brought to the temple." Plagg continued to explain.

"Pollen and Trixx said it existed in one village before." Marinette cut him.

"Let's not bother with such details." Plagg waved his head. "Our wielders defeated the villain, and released our magic. And after that my wielder could not destroy magical creations from distance but Tikki's wielder could restore everything as it was before."

"As if his power or the 'curse' was transferred to me, which was apparently what the cursed stone was doing." Tikki piped in. They could see the first rays of the sun through the window and the sun disc started to appear above the mountain in the distance.

"But that meant my wielder destroyed the stone." Plagg whined.

"Or not." Tikki chirped.

"This is exactly why the guardians rely on the knowledge from the books, not only the kwami." Dolma warned.

"But, you said that the temple distorts your usual magical powers?" Marinette asked Tenzin and he affirmed with one nod waiting to hear where she was going. "And the stone was in the temple?" the two kwami nodded, the others mostly shrugged.

"Tikki, have your wielders lost any powers?" Marinette inquired further.

Tikki waved her head. But, she was the goddess of good luck, she had no curse to transfer to the stone. She looked Marinette straight in her eyes and saw that the girl understood that. Except, maybe, there was that enhanced senses issue.

Pema quietly reminded them of the time for the breakfast and the morning prayers and the four of them left the elderly monks to quarrel between themselves.


	37. Chapter 37 - The Breakfast prayers

The breakfast prayers

_One man's strength is another man's weakness. (Unknown)_

There were few people in the breakfast room and all of them were monks. Pema, Dorje, Adrien and Marinette took their food and sat and ate in silence. It was not a wonder the room was so empty. The students were mostly asleep having chatted on their phones throughout the night until their batteries were dead.

Adrien felt shaken by the conversation. The information from yesterday has not sunk in. It was questionable if it ever will sunk in completely. How could a person accept such a fact. Is there some manual on how to cope with the fact that your father is a villain. There probably was. He will have to look for that. Once he gets the time.

Plagg peaked at his chosen with worry written all over his face. The truth was, he had been in such situations before and it seldom ended up well for his chosen. There was always suffering.

Marinette felt her heart ache for Adrien. It was so unfair. The only thing she knew was that she would be there for him. She did not know how to solve his problems but she will try to find the way.

"I think you are aware of your strengths and weaknesses enough to get a break." Pema winked while they carried their rice and salty Tibetan tea and found a spot to sit at.

Marinette took out a cookie and gave to Tikki who sat on her lap and ate, half camouflaged in the read onesie the girl was wearing. Plagg took his cheese and landed on Adrien's shoulder, but the boy put him down on his knee, and as far away from his nose as possible.

"The most important thing to determine right now is" Dorje spoke to Adrien. "Has revealing your identities changed the way you fight your battles?" And the importance of switching the subject that obviously occupied the boy's mind was not small.

"Nope, I don't think so, judging by yesterday." Adrien was determined to confirm nothing wrong came from revealing their identities to each other. He was very happy with that and replied smiling his eyes glowing with happiness. His mind flickered to the fight with the king from history they did yesterday. Then he asked Marinette to confirm.

"Nothing changed." Marinette waved her head. Yeah, except she was not wearing her spots and discussed how she fought as Ladybug, yesterday. And she knew her parther was Adrien, sitting beside her and he knew her identity. The fact she could even have this conversation was a big change. The the way they fought villains? Not so much.

"You are both very poor liars." Pema smirked.

Adrien stared at his rice.

Marinette bit her lower lip and looked to the side.

"The thing is" Adrien was explaining the problem to the bowl of rice. "Now I know it is her and I want to protect her even more." Pema nodded more to confirm to Dorje what they suspected than to acknowledge what Adrien said.

"Well, at least you did not die this time." Marinette whispered. "I can't stand that. It is awful when I have to bring you back." She spoke heavily, weighted by the responsibility of bringing him back so many times and now she added the fact that Chat Noir was Adrien to that wieght.

"Yeah, we just got buried all together." Adrien laughed to himself.

"I made a mistake." Marinette groaned.

"But we fixed it." Adrien smiled and looked at Marinette.

"The truth is, I do not want you to get hurt too. You went after Peacock in the darkness. I was scared!" Marinette spoke to her bowl of rice. "But I was scared for you even before I knew you were … you! And … ugh!" It was just so hard to speak.

"So you did it the same way, it just felt differently?" Dorje asked when Pema explained what was going on.

"Um yeah?" Marinette mumbled with her mouth full. Everything felt differently, her memories of previous fight rewind in her head and felt differently now.

"Yes" Adrien confirmed and nodded. He looked at the girl sitting next to him, she slumped her shoulders, bowed her head down, looked smaller than she was and stared at the rice. He expected Ladybug to be older, to be larger than life shining star that he would recognize the moment he saw her as a civilian. He was so wrong. Marinette was modest and shy and yet he was impressed by the girl.

"Good." both monks smiled and continued eating their breakfast.

They continued eating. Adrien enjoyed having the company although they were silent. He thought of nice company he had for every meal, he did not eat alone once since he left Paris. Everyone was open and friendly, even when they questioned or teased him. He was not openly criticized nor informed on his schedule in stern voice. Nobody judged him by his looks. He was not there for someone's entertainment.

Three humans and two kwami could clearly say when Adrien thought of his father.

Because Adrien sunk.

But that was a cue to continue, for some.

"Tell us" Pema prepared the terrain for the question. "Even if your father wanted the same thing you do, and that is to bring your mother back, you would not side with him? You would not bring your mother back?"

"Sometimes I think I would give anything to bring my mother back." Adrien sighed in melancholy. "I miss her so much." His voice was giving away his pain. "But, that is not true any more. I realized when they asked me before what would that mean for me. And the sight of my mother would remind me of all the akumas and all the evil things my father did. I would not be happy." Somewhere in the middle of his speech, Marinette held his hand. Adrien looked broken.

"You would fight your father, then?" Dorje asked for confirmation.

"I would. I already have." Adrien raised his eyes toward Dorje and revealed how determined he was. "This is not about my mother. How could I ever live with my father after everything he did? Even if my memory got erased somehow, I do not want to live like that. I will gladly spend seven years here training to be a hero." the boy exclaimed with a grin on his face. "I only hope I would do it with my lady by my side." he spoke gently as he turned to Marinette. This time the girl's eyes were glossy with tears.

"About those seven years" Pema looked at Dorje and they exchanged encouraging look. "You do not actually need them. That is just how it is usually done."

Adrien actually sunk a little bit after he got that information.

"You could stay here if circumstances allowed." Dorje tried to comfort the boy.

"We will think of something." Marinette offered.

"Everything will be okay." Tikki soothed.

"Kid, I would accept some cheaper brand of cheese, it does not have to be the finest Camembert all the time. Just once in a while. And over weekends. And after akuma fights and … " Plagg comforted Adrien his own way.

"Plagg" several people and a kwami warned.

"Plagg" Adrien laughed.

They exchanged a few amused looks and then Adrien sighed.

"What if you had to go back to the house and live with your father?" Pema tested the waters. "What if that was needed?"

Adrien shuddered. Then he took a deep breath.

"If that was needed to win over them?" the boy asked himself. "If it was absolutely needed, then I guess I would, but I would really prefer not to." Marinette put her arm around his back and her other hand over his and glared at Pema. Was this woman asking a teenager to live with his monstrous psychopath of a father?

"It might be necessary to fool your enemy that way." Pema shrugged. But then Marinette remembered something that might be even worse and her grip on Adrien stiffened. He felt it too. He turned his face towards her and he saw it all over her face and in her eyes.

"If he is to be revealed publicly. If I am to be known as the son of Hawk Moth, then so be it. As long as I can keep you at least as a friend." Adrien smiled back. He was determined to accept any fate as long as they wanted him on this side of the battle.

All three of them looked at him with amazement and admiration. Marinette's eyes were filled with tears.

"Don't cry. I am already the son of Hawk Moth." Adrien smiled. "My position in society can only improve from here." he smirked and raised his eyebrows, but Marinette could tell he almost cried. So, she got to her knees and held him tighter. Tears started flowing from their eyes and down their faces.

Most of the monks were already there chanting their prayers and eating in turns ignoring the events around them and hoping to transfer their own tranquillity onto others through their chants.

The students started to fill the meal room.

Ling and Ye appeared at their side and sat down.

"Have you slept at all?" Ling asked.

"What is wrong?" Ye inquired gently.

"He discovered yesterday that his father is a bad person." Pema offered as an explanation.

Marinette was grateful for the explanation. It was the truth, just not the whole truth.

"Well, that is not new." Ye shrugged. The older boy was already having fun (together with Ling) watching Adrien being oblivious to Marinette and their mutual feelings, it was not a surprise for him that the same boy would be oblivious to just how abusive his father was.

"He refused to take his own son for holidays and decided to leave him practically locked up in his house during the school holidays." Ling explained it in such a tone of voice as if that was the worst crime ever committed.

"He had to hide from his father on the way here." Ye added.

"The boy is scared to use his credit card and yet he worked for that money himself." Ling cut in.

"He filled the boy's schedule completely." Ye remembered to add.

"He is controlling his life to an extreme level and yet shows little interest in the boy and spends almost no time with him. And even that is only to assess his progress." Ling took a position she saw in some show about lawyers.

"He did not allow him to go to a public school. We could list you the children's rights from the United Nations, it was signed many years ago, but it would be new to you." Ye nodded his head.

"Basically his father is a criminal." Ling waved her rice sticks threateningly.

'Okay, this went smooth.' Marinette thought. Adrien listened to the thrashing of his father and she felt him shake. She relaxed her grip to see him better and realized he was laughing quietly.

"Yeah, he is a criminal." Adrien spoke while he laughed.

"The problem is, his father might be coming here. With his assistant." Dorje explained.

"We will help you." Ye promised.

"We will hide you." Ling said, then she produced a cap from her pocket and stuck it on Adrien's head. She tilted her head while she looked at him and produced dark glasses and stuck them on his nose. They were laughing almost hysterically.

"We will defend you." Ye flexed his muscles. That only increased their laughter, so much so that they got a few stares from people around to quiet down.

When they finally settled down, Adrien removed the cap and the glasses and returned them to Ling. Then they resumed eating their breakfast and enjoyed the chanting of the monks. The melody was slow and repetitive and most of all, it was calming.


	38. Chapter 38 - Nathalie and Gabriel p2

Gabriel and Nathalie Chapter two

After all these years, Nathalie was ready to take it all in stride.

Truth to be told, the paperwork needed to import the butterflies to China was new. There was practically no paperwork needed before. It was not like they carried a giant or red panda or Ili pika. Pandas can not be bought, they are merely borrowed from the Republic of China. These were butterflies. They were quite common from what she could see. Plain paperwork should suffice. But now she had to have the paperwork that would state if and how the animals were genetically modified. And she had none. Gabriel would never accept his precious butterflies to be genetically analysed, anyway. It was a lost cause from the start. During the flight, he was cold and unapproachable (as if anyone would notice a difference) and she dealt with the flight attendants for the both of them.

The further issue at the Chinese border was that they did not accept a simple statement that the butterflies are not genetically modified organisms. The generations of inbreeding of the insects (they generally needed about two months to complete a cycle) plus keeping them in special conditions has raised a breed that looks differently than their natural counterpart and the Chinese authorities insisted on doing the analysis themselves. And her boss has signed the documents approving the analysis without even bothering to read them carefully and just think through what each word meant. She dreaded the moment the genetic analysis results are brought back.

Besides, who needed butterflies? She could create sentimonsters now that the brooch was fixed.

While running his errands like arranging meetings to replace the factory contract her boss so easily dismissed, Nathalie had travelled across Beijing and had some time to contemplate.

She loved Gabriel. She was sure of it. She dreamed of seeing the man happy, or at least barely satisfied. She met Gabriel as a young intern, a mere apprentice assistant assigned to a young aspiring designer who was about to make his own brand. Everything was new and exciting. He was determined to do what had to be done to become successful in the cruel world of high fashion. And he did it with glamour and style. She was overwhelmed, swept of her feet, by his energy and determination, by his sense of style and glamour. But, Emilie was already there.

Emilie was his shining star. She was a young model but she had this million dollar look that helped anything Gabriel designed (or anyone else for that matter) look priceless. Gabriel realised her potential and made an exclusive contract with her as soon as he could. Young model was happy to have a contract with young and dashing, self confident and proud aspiring designer. Emilie really wanted to be an actress, she had this pose and attitude of Audrey Hepburn. She wanted to act in artistic films, not to be a pretty face in a blockbuster. She had class. She was sophisticated. It was impossible to be jealous of her, she was just natural at it.

And then Adrien was born. A crying baby annoyed Gabriel, but Emilie somehow balanced her life between the two of them (and having staff to babysit helped considerably) and the family was happy. Not the cliché film happy where everyone bursts into singing somewhere high in the Alps, but the solemn and dignifying kind of happy. The appropriate kind of happy, worthy of a fashion magazine.

The boy looked like a copy of his mother and he had a smile that would conquer anyone. And sell his father's creations. So Gabriel loved him. Emilie seemed unaffected by Gabriel's outbursts and would retort back and pushed her own will. Emilie handled it all somehow, with grace and dignity, and a sprinkle of attitude from time to time. Until she didn't.

Adrien was raised to be a copy of his mother. He looked like her (save some body parts). He was expected to be sophisticated and classy, with a lot of training from Emilie, the boy achieved the same pose and attitude of his mother. But he was a boy. And now, even worse, he was a teenage boy. His position in society held certain responsibility. Chloe, as annoying as she was, understood that from an early age. Adrien was well trained, he just needed guidance, and supervision.

Nathalie was there, in the middle of the congested traffic in a city of over twenty million inhabitants, pondering on her own life after the last words she heard from Gabriel were less than pleasing to hear. She lived for his subtle praises and restrained gentleness. He was a gentleman, after all. And he appreciated her, in his own ways. A woman that would be any less than her would not see that. But Nathalie learned her ways in the society of high fashion and appreciated any small gesture of restrained kindness that she received, weather the kindness behind it was real or perceived.

After all, he let her know on his secrets. She knew he was Hawk Moth. She knew the code to his safe and the passcode to his computer. He let her use the Peacock miraculous (from time to time, at least). But she even took the miraculous without his permission and used it and lived to see another day. Anyone else would be fired for touching his pencil without asking for permission (and being granted one). Therefore, she concluded, he cared for her, he trusted her, he earned her love.

The hotel in Lhasa was less than glamorous, but it should have been sufficient. Nathalie wandered how Emilie managed to take Gabriel on trekking in Tibet. The man could behave like a spoiled brat. But then again, she would see in his eyes how everything reminded him of Emilie. He would stand there in front of the window lost in his thoughts and release a quiet sigh from time to time. A man who loved so much must be a great and kind person. He deserved all the love she could give him (and he was willing to take). He cared for her, he was so worried for her when the broken miraculous made her ill. She had to steal it back to use it and he barely scolded her for that. He was such a gentle person. And she told herself that. Quite often.

Things were not going smoothly on this journey and he was showing how nervous that had made him. Emilie had a gift to calm him down, but she was not there. And the fact that she was not there was making him even worse. Nathalie strived to fix it all and finally made a breakthrough by running into that army supply officer near the temple in Lhasa. She finally had some luck like their arch nemesis seemed to have on regular basis.

So she got them a ride, now the only remaining problem were the butterflies. Gabriel smiled to that. He actually smiled. It was not a gentle smile. Oh no. It was a smile that was hiding a secret.

"Aporia crataegi." he said. He left her to her own devices to figure it out. A short search over the internet revealed few basic facts, but it was sufficient for her.

Finally, that evening in Lhasa, he seemed less annoyed. They will meet their connection in the morning after breakfast. _(I wanted to insert some romance here, but I failed.)_

"It might be wise to make an electronic message to ourselves. We do not know all the tricks they have up their sleeves in that temple. I want an option to restore my memories." Gabriel required of her with the most gentle voice she ever heard of him.

"Are you sure that is wise, sir?" Nathalie questioned his decision. She was that brave after all.

"I trust you to do all the necessary precautions. If we forget, please see to it that Ms Lila Rossi reminds us to check the messages. It might be needed." Gabriel concluded.

So they created two recordings and protected them with all the ways known to Nathalie. Gabriel explained to himself what he did and what to look for on his computer and Nathalie made a similar set of video instructions. Then Nathalie assembled a message to be sent to Ms Rossi automatically in one week time. That should be sufficient.

Gabriel was showing her the same signs of affection he would show to Emilie, except she never exercised to test him with her temper. She did not have that. She secretly hoped that they would get Emilie back for Adrien, while Nathalie might, just might, keep Gabriel. When she caught Gabriel staring at the picture of Emilie she told herself he wanted her for his son, not for himself. The man should be able to recognize and appreciate the love and devotion he received from his assistant. Of course, she was his employee, but he even treated his own son as an employee. It was just his way of showing love. And so she told herself. She never questioned his feelings. She never expressed her own. It was unprofessional to have feelings. And she was professional, head to toe. Heart included.

Fortunately, she had little time to dwell on issues such as Adrien. She checked on him regularly, in her own ways. The exchange of messages was steady and fluent. The boy wanted to visit his friend. Nathalie would ask Gabriel and he would say no and she would pass on the message. She would call him at the same hour each day, but apparently the boy changed his usual routine and tended to be under the shower when she called. She would get a voice message back. She had no time nor the nerves to be bothered on it. As long as he stayed in the house and complained about being bored and wanting to go and see his friends, it was fine.

The next morning, after breakfast, they were loaded onto a supply vehicle, sharing the cabin with the same man from yesterday. They were warned to carry cash, and a lot of it, so Nathalie made sure they had those. They managed to get some papers that should help them go through checkpoints and stated they were doing some government approved research in the area. Their man at least knew how the papers were supposed to look like. When they finally left Lhasa it was past noon.

The journey was treacherous, but the driver navigated the small supply vehicle along a narrow winding road with ease. He did it on a weekly basis and knew every curve. They reached some obscure military post of some sort in the middle of the night. At least, the military maintained it.

More than several bills had put them into a heated container instead of a tent.

The next morning, they should have boarded a helicopter. They have not. The paperwork was insufficient and it took a lot of persuasion. After a while, sufficient compensation was offered and given for the services of a one-way transfer. When and exactly where were still matters to discuss.

There was one more tiny issue to resolve.

Gabriel stood by the window in their container and watched a butterfly flutter on the outer side of the window and out of his reach.

"Are you sure it is safe to create akuma here, it could give us away sir?" Nathalie dared to ask.

"This area is so isolated from the world, there is barely and media coverage." the man replied so self assured leaving no space for an argument. Yet, she found some.

"The appearance of the temple was covered by the media." she stated carefully. To her, it was obvious that the appearance of Hawk Moth, Mayura and akumas and sentimonsters would not be missed by the media.

"The temple itself has been connected to the sentimonster in Paris. The media can always blame the monks there for creating more monsters." Gabriel replied sternly. "Besides, nobody knows we are here. We are in Beijing making business deals for our new production line."

"I have to do this. For Adrien. And for Emilie. I just miss her so much." Gabriel replied with some undefined emotion in his voice.

Nathalie felt something cut her inside. She almost winced in pain. But she was strong, she could handle the pain without ever showing her emotions on the outside.

"I will help you sir. I will do anything." if only she could make him see who was standing right next to him.


	39. Chapter 39 - The Visit

The visit

The morning after breakfast went according to plans. Considering there were none made. The time that was scheduled to be used for education, was well spent in a rather informal was of exchange of information. Someone might call it idle chatter, but when the people holding up the conversation are more than a hundred and fifty years apart, you can bet it can be educational.

Plagg had a different educational idea. He decided to educate Adrien on the benefits of the Tibetan cheese. Particularly the smell of it. Somehow, the little black cat god did not eat the cheese completely, but left one small chunk to be heated by Adrien's skin. When the boy felt the smell that was coming out from him, he knew what happened and glared into his onesie.

"Your body temperature gives it a special aroma." Plagg spoke quietly with a mischievous grin knowing Adrien can't do much about it. Adrien rolled his eyes at the culinary escapade of his kwami when Marinette leaned into him.

"Has your kwami just invented a new perfume add?" She teased. Adrien had tu suppress loud laughter and felt better instantly.

The plan was that the students introduce the monks to the modern ways of life without actually lecturing them. However, students were simply chatting and telling stories during breakfast, but they could not use their phones (save a few of them) because they used them all night. The phones had empty batteries and the students too, due to a lack of sleep.

The absence of caffeine was much noted and several herbal tea remedies were prepared on behalf of the monks (and more than a few of them needed that, badly).

The monks started chanting their own stories, taking turns like the day before. This time it was about various mythical beings. The other remedy for the lack of sleep was to keep themselves busy by having their own commentary of the events that were described in the chants. A normal person seldom falls asleep while snickering. Fang Feng was a giant who fought the great flood.

"That was the name of the janitor in our school." Ye cut in quietly. Marinette felt Tikki snicker at that.

There were plenty of other beings that would control the wind and the rain throughout history.

"Hey, I bet they caused the ice ages … and the climate change." Ling whispered back.

They heard stories of different creatures who could tell the truth from the lies either using their third eye or other means of detection.

"These creatures had to be exterminated so that lawyers and politicians could do their job."

The students were slowly losing attention when one monk started telling about the mythical intelligent beings, particularly the tortoise, the phoenix, the dragon and the unicorn.

"I need that for the next Kitty Section outfit." Marinette jawed. Thinking about anything that awaited for them in Paris looked so far. It has been a week and they felt as if several years have passed.

The stories about the deeds of Daoji, a folk hero who was made famous by his wild and eccentric behaviour were far more interesting. And to help that, several monks tried to re-enact the hero's deeds making fun of themselves in the process.

The monk was finishing the story about the warder of evil spirits who visited the temple several times and was respected and loved and known as the King Monkey. Marinette did not get to hear the end (although this story was more interesting than the others). The monks lead her and Adrien out from the room. Ling and Ye followed, curious to see what was going on.

The helicopter left them on a flat surface about quarter of an hour walk from the cliff on top of which the temple sat. Nathalie and Gabriel got out from the helicopter and then the army unloaded a lot of different boxes, as many as could fit the transport helicopter. The ride was unpleasant and noisy, but they both took it stoically. Gabriel smiled wickedly at the sight of the temple. Finally, they were there.

They walked towards the small camp site built by the army below the cliff. There were several ship containers refurbished for accommodation. Nathalie successfully negotiated to get one whole container for themselves. That was of the utmost importance. He would need to transform and steer the akuma from somewhere. Her boss did not intend to get his hands dirty if he did not absolutely have to. The army would rent them their 'lab and accommodation' space for a compensation and she settled for that.

In the meantime, Gabriel was on a hunt of his own. There were butterflies. But they were wild and summoning one of them in his palm while untransformed has proven to be a problem. He stood with his palms open calling, begging, whining and threatening. Needles to say, none of the butterflies landed obediently into his hands. Perhaps it is easier when he is transformed.

His purple suit probably emits some pheromones that butterflies respond to, or perhaps the suit reflect the sunlight in the part of the spectrum that attracts them. Gabriel will have to ask Nooroo about that

He ran around the campsite and wandered away chasing butterflies. It was a silly scene and Nathalie had to suppress a smile forming on her face. Oh, how she loved him for that. Gabriel was far less amused by his own demise. They will have to lure the butterflies to their container, somehow. He had a few tricks up his sleeve.

Nathalie contemplated further. It was strange how her mind have wandered in the last few days. That was uncharacteristic for her. She stood in front of their assigned container and felt sorry they took a ride in a helicopter. The scenery looked so romantic. Walking the route, just the two of them, surrounded by this scenery, talking their souls out, maybe Gabriel would finally see her. But, he was not like that. She was not like that. What was she thinking? They were professional. They were perfectionists. And they were on a mission. She scolded herself.

Gabriel returned with no butterflies. His face was expressionless, his back straight, his shoulders squared, his walk confident and his attitude proud, but she knew he was anything but happy,

"My negotiations were an acceptable success, considering the circumstances, we got this." she showed him into their container.

"Hm. Gabriel stood in the middle of the container with his hands on his back. "We might try negotiations first. Let's pay them a little visit."

"You are not allowed in, sir." a government official, the same guide who handled the bus Adrien and Marinette took, was explaining in stern voice. The short woman stared at the tall man and squinted her eyes. Gabriel and Nathalie were wearing dark shaded glasses and Gabriel stood in such position that the short government official had to stare against the sun to look into his face.

"You can not disturb the government recovery programme." the short woman insisted.

"I assure you we ..." Gabriel could not finish the sentence, he was about to say 'do not mean to cause any disturbance.'

"We have the paperwork here." Nathalie offered the papers they had hoping that those might be sufficient. And if some money is asked on the side, so be it. The woman took the papers without hesitation or asking for money.

"Very well, I will have to consult the coordinator in Beijing about your permit during our afternoon regular phone call in an hour. Would you be so kind as to wait in the camp below the cliff until then?" The official glanced at the papers. "And I would even have the time to read them myself before the meeting." The guide finally remembered where she had seen them before. They were dressed differently and they had no sunglasses, but she was sure it was them, the same couple she met at the bus parking lot in Lhasa.

That triggered Gabriel to snatch the papers away.

"I do not trust you with these documents." he snarled. "For what I know you might claim they were forged, not return them and not let us in. My assistant will contact your supervisor."

Gabriel showed the papers into Nathalie's hands and turned around on his heel.

Nathalie swiftly put the paperwork back in her bag and followed her boss down the steps.

The guide eyed them as they were leaving. They had clothes that was at least sufficient for the short visit to Tibet countryside. It was obvious everything they wore was new and practically not used, they definitely did not walk much in those shoes. And she was sure those papers were not valid.

In the meantime Adrien and Marinette were ushered together with Pema and Dorje towards the main entrance to the temple. Ling and Ye followed them in step. They used a dark and narrow side corridor and were close to the man entrance. The door was open and they could see the light come in the main corridor while they were hiding behind a carpet, or a tapestry, that hid the entrance to that particular corridor. They were hidden in the darkness and looked to the scene outside, lit by the blinding sun.

They could clearly hear the discussion outside. But Adrien understood every word his father had said. His body reacted to every word. He reacted even to Nathalie, but he managed to keep that inside. He got used to being away from them and seeing them again made him feel as if he was back in the Agreste mansion again. Except, while he would sneak around and spy on his father and Nathalie, as he sometimes did, trying to overhear their plans for him, he was not held close by a girl with pigtails and blue eyes who looked at him with so much compassion and care.

And he was not painfully aware that right then he was listening to Hawk Moth and Mayura. He pushed that thought out from his head, he did not need a panic attack.

The fear of being discovered almost overwhelmed him again. That was his father. That was Hawk Moth. He clenched his hands into fists. Adrien concentrated on his breathing. He could hear his father was not allowed inside by the same guide who was on their bus. He smiled thinking of the small woman full of energy. He smiled gently at Marinette and wrapped his arms around her. She was his anchor. He will fight his father or flight away or hide or whatever she tells him to do. He began to feel safe, half hidden by the darkness.

Marinette felt like she knew what happened the moment they were called from the breakfast prayers. Were they to fight instantly? What was going on? Suddenly she realized, nobody knew what was going on. It was her call to decide on the fly once she realized what was happening. She heard their guide and peeked through a narrow gap between the tapestry and the wall. Then she heard Gabriel. She could not see him. But she instinctively wrapped her arms around Adrien.

Pema and Dorje looked at Adrien and Marinette and needed no confirmation. They sneaked out into the main corridor, leaving the two teens to hide behind the tapestry. Dorje needed one look at the couple outside to know for sure. They were wielders, they were not chosen and they used their miraculous for evil and selfish means. He assumed everyone could see that as easily as he did, but one look at Pema squinted eyes told him it was not the case. He was named the guardian of the temple gates for some reason, and apparently that was the reason. After half a minute, Pema saw it too, and nodded. So it worked.

"Is that his father?" Ling whispered to Marinette and the girl nodded in approval. Ling turned around and gave one firm nod to Ye. The older boy stood between Adrien and the tapestry and crossed his arms. The same way Adrien's bodyguard sometimes stood between the boy and his fans. Adrien almost laughed at the resemblance. This time it was a slightly older teenage boy standing between him and his father. And Nathalie.

Fortunately Gabriel was preoccupied to sense the presence of Adrien and the emotional whirlpool inside him (which was nothing new to be honest). When Gabriel and Nathalie left, they looked at each other. They could not discuss their strategy nor the option to attack right there and right then. Ye and Ling were there. Instead, they both decided it would be an excellent strategic move to head for the bathroom.


	40. Chapter 40 - The Field Reporter

The Field Reporter

Marinette had an idea. She was not sure where that could lead them, nor if that was a plan A or plan B, she could not even decide if the idea was good. She would try to make it into a full fledged plan.

"My friend Alya, from Paris, asked me to send her a few photos from the temple for her blog." Marinette was explaining to Pema. "Would it be okay if I take a few photos to send her?"

Adrien listened and looked around, probably all the students around them already posted some photos from inside the temple to their social media. At least they posted photos of their wounded feet and destroyed shoes, selfies of them waking up and their breakfast.

Marinette showed her phone to Pema and what was Ladyblog. The woman read it with interest, she had already seen the pictures before, but there were Alya's texts. Ling opened the same blog on her phone and followed. It was something completely new to both of them. Of course, there was stuff about guessing Ladybug's identity that made Pema laugh and Marinette asked them to skip interviews (for a number of reasons).

Pema finally accepted and guided them throught the temple, Marinette took pictures of tapestries on the walls, of the mosaics on the floor and the walls, including the one they saw on their first evening. In the end, Pema and Dorje posed for a few photos and Marinette decided she had enough material. She roamed the temple and studied different corridors and rooms and Pema was happy to show the kids all the secret passages. Almost every tapestry on the wall hid a room, a storage or a corridor.

Marinette found a spot with a good network signal and uploaded the photos for Alya with brief comments dictated by Pema. Marinette knew Alya was still asleep in Paris and did not expect an answer. But then, her idea pressed into her mind and she schemed to do it.

"Adrien, I'd like to take a few pictures of your father and Nathalie and send them to Alya too." Marinette spoke quietly as if she was asking for a permission. Adrien was having fun until then, his thoughts were busy with memorizing all the passages and his mood sunk a little as he was reminded of his father.

"That is excellent idea, Marinette." he whispered and did not finish his thoughts out loud. He understood the plan. In the case he started creating akuma there, that would reveal Gabriel as Hawk Moth to the public. And he understood why she asked him. Alya did not have to publish the pictures right away, but she could keep them and use them if needed.

They quickly organized a small group of monks and students to go outside and walk to the nomads that had set up their tents about an hours walk away. Adrien insisted on going along and caused Marinette to panic. But Ye and Ling persuaded her that with a dark cap and sunglasses, he would be safe.

The problem was, it was not that easy to sneak up to a world famous designer and his assistant and snap a few photos. The man was trained for the professional paparazzi, and Marinette was no Alya, her phone barely had any zooming capacity. Ye and Ling offered help as they could not be recognized. Together, they managed to snap a few photos from a distance, in the container camp just before they entered their container.

The group was happy to be outside and enjoy the scenery in the sun. Plagg was so excited that Adrien was sure he got a few scratches on his chest when he got offered some cheese. This time, he was allowed to pay for it, through the services of Dorje. It was amazing how the monk easily got into trade with the nomads although the money used was completely unknown. Adrien sneaked a piece in his jacket pocket and took more with him, wrapped in a package.

When they were returning back to the temple and chatted with no apparent worries in their mind, Marinette suddenly froze and stood in place. Just in front of her, on a tiny flower in the field they were crossing, there was a familiar white butterfly. Adrien could almost hear her saying 'Bye Bye little butterfly." He felt his insides freeze. They exchanged a look of mutual understanding. Marinette's eyes narrowed, her face was determined and she looked around. There were a few more butterflies in the distance.

They continued walking, but a little bit to the side.

"If they create an akuma or a sentimonster, we will have to transform to fight it. That would be the same as revealing our identities to Alya." Adrien whispered.

"Chat Noir and Ladybug could have teleported from Paris?" Marinette offered as an excuse. Adrien smiled and remembered her excuse for being on the Startrain.

"Yeah, that could work for Alya." Adrien sighed and crossed his fingers. Just like they wanted to expose Hawk Moth and Mayura, they might get exposed themselves. Fortunately, his lady had a plan. He looked at Marinette lovingly. He was so blind. That thought repeated in his head like a mantra. He wanted to talk to her, but she was more interested in determining the route they took to the cave and check if there are any other options to climb the cliff as a civilian.

While they returned, there were more photos taken of the cliff and the temple on the top.

Marinette sent the photos to Alya as soon as they were in the temple with a short message to store that for future reference.

Her phone rang for a video call almost instantly.

"Hi Alya" Marinette greeted.

"Hi girl!" Alya greeted. Her voice was hoarse and she was obviously still in her bed, but her eyes were alive and determined. Her brain was obviously full of questions.

"Are you awake this early?" Marinette asked genuinely surprised. There was no school, Alya was in her bed, not taking care of her little sisters (who were probably still asleep).

"Girl, don't you early on me!" Alya groaned in a hoarse voice. She sat up and cleared her throat.

"Is he with you?" Alya demanded.

Marinette took a few seconds to actually remember Alya must be talking about Adrien. She looked around. Adrien was not there, he probably went with other monks as he helped carry some stuff from the tent village/settlement. She remembered he bought cheese.

"Um, no?" Marinette answered, very clearly and fluently.

"Good. So what is going on between you two. Girl, spill!" Alya ordered. She sat on her bed, her legs crossed before her, she leaned her elbow on her knee and her chin oh her hand and held the phone in the other hand.

Marinette was puzzled on what to say. What was going on? There was so much going on and so little she could possibly tell.

"Um, we were out today?" Marinette spoke. Alya raised an eyebrow and put a knowing smirk on her face. "With my cousins and monks and few other students. We went to the nomads who set up tents nearby and ..." Marinette rambled. Alya raised both eyebrows.

"As much as I would be interested in that story and you did send me the pictures, that was not what I was asking, girl." Alya insisted as she cut in.

"I, um, what were you asking?" Marinette stammered out.

"I saw the photos Adrien sent to Nino. That boy has his arms around you on each of them!" Alya half scolded half exclaimed. The point was, she was not sure herself if she should congratulate Marinette or warn her.

Marinette lowered her gaze and her face fell. How on Earth could she explain that. She enjoyed his attentions without giving them any meaning because, until yesterday, Marinette believed Adrien liked Kagami.

"Then he made a video call to Nino, it was middle of the night for you and you were in his bed." Alya continued.

"That was on a train. I" Marinette blushed severely. "Was there because of the video call." Yeah, she also fell asleep there, better not tell her that if she wants out of this conversation. They cuddled practically from the moment they entered the car last Friday. The memories flashed through her head.

"It was the middle of the night and he had his arm around you again!" Alya smiled mischievously and waved her index finger and put her chin back in her hand.

"And then" Alya smirked. "Last night, he called Nino again." Alya stressed each word. Because it was Adrien calling Nino. It was not Marinette who called Alya, oh no. She had to learn this through her boyfriend. "Again in the middle of the night and you were sharing a sleeping bag?" Alya practically screamed out the last words, her voice broke back to hoarse.

"Are your parents aware of what are you doing? You are fourteen girl!" Alya scolded again. "As much as I am happy for you and you should know that I am, I am extremely happy for you, you should know that I am worried." Alya sighed. "And I am also extremely frustrated that this journey of Adrien is a secret and I can't tell any of this to Rose, Alix, Juleka and Mylenne." Alya groaned out the last part. The secrecy was taking the best of her.

"Alya" Marinette laughed at her antics. "Don't worry and there is not much to tell. We have not even kissed. We are still friends." Yes they were, they have not discussed their status at all. They were definitely friends, they were also partners, but she could not tell that to Alya, and they were definitely not a couple yet, he has not asked her anything and neither did she. Although they both admitted to love each other.

"We did not chose to have one sleeping bag instead of two. We lied that we are brother and sister so we got one." Marinette was explaining. Alya burst into laughter.

"Oh, this is getting better and better, now he can't kiss you because it would be awkward." Alya waved her head. How did this girl manage to mess up any opportunity? Marinette on the other hand blushed severely. Did Adrien want to kiss her? He did tell her he loved her. She wanted to kiss him. But the duties of Ladybug and a Guardian (if she was that at all) and learning the identities managed the impossible – she did not think obsessively about kissing him the whole time. It might have passed her mind from time to time, and got pushed back quickly as it came.

"And it gets so cold here in the night that I am grateful for it, I would freeze Alya." Marinette warned. "We sleep in a large hall with more than fifty other people." If she could only have made her understand the feeling of waking up when the Celsius was in the minus.

"Oh, so he is just there to keep you warm. How romantic and practical." Alya cooed. She was teasing, after the 'brother and sister' stuff, to Alya it was clear as day there was no romance involved. Except, did those two even see themselves and how they looked together?

"It is not like that. We are dressed like bears. He got us some thick fleece onesies and I would freeze without that Alya." Marinette continued in serious tone, but Alya could barely suppress her laughter sufficiently to hear what the girl was saying.

"He got you a pyjama, an onesie, to sleep in, while sharing a sleeping bag, with him?" Alya raised her eyebrows. That was just too good to pass.

"Yeah" Marinette patted her foot nervously. "It is not lace underwear Alya!" she warned. "We are sleeping in a room full of people. There is nothing going on between us."

Alya shook her head in disbelief. "You are becoming worse than him."

"Hey, there you are." Ling approached with Pema.

"Hi" Marinette greeted. "This is my friend from Paris, Alya, she runs the Ladyblog and this is Pema, a monk from the temple who actually speaks French, and my cousin Ling." Marinette spoke the introductions quickly relieved and hopeful for a switch in the subject. And a switch in the subject happened instantly as Alya had many questions for Pema and chatted with Ling for a bit. It took some time, but Marinette's phone finally issued a warning for an empty battery and they all waved Alya goodbye.

Ling and Marinette searched for Adrien and his solar power unit to charge their phones. They found him quite blushed putting away his phone.

"Nino called me." he said, turned and walked away. Marinette plugged in her phone and was not sure if she should run after him. The boy stopped and looked at her over his shoulder. Marinette hesitantly walked after him.

Note: when had this monster grown to forty chapters?


	41. Chapter 41 - A Chat in the Hallway

A chat in a hallway

Adrien stopped in an empty hallway and turned around. He saw Marinette approach him hesitantly so he smiled to encourage her. When she was close to him, he could see some awkwardness and shyness that she carried in Paris got back to her.

"Nino" Adrien started carefully studying Marinette's face. "He told me a few things."

Marinette has turned beet red. What did Nino tell him? She already admitted she loved him. It could not have been that bad. Right now she would admit to everything and anything. Her mortification was irrelevant. This boy was her superhero partner and they were about to face the supervillains, one of them was his father. She loved him, she needed him strong and brave and on her side.

"We are friends, right, you would tell me off?" he whispered as he put his hands on her shoulders.

Marinette nodded. Her face was still red. There was again that f word that used to hurt her so much when it came from his mouth. It did not hurt her any more. She was just not sure why. He told her that he loved her the day before. Perhaps that was the reason.

"You would have told me if I made you feel uncomfortable, right?" He asked looking in her eyes.

Marinette nodded. Nope, she would not, she would blush, stammer and run away.

"I can see you are uncomfortable now." Adrien sighed. She avoided eye contact, she was red in the face and she was silent. Oh, yea, she was looking very comfortable for having that conversation, indeed.

"I am not … It is not because of you!" Marinette admitted. And it was the truth. It was mostly because of herself and because of her talk with Alya. "I just had a really awkward conversation with Alya."

'_Please, oh please, pretty please, do not ask me what it was so awkward. I do not want to talk about that with you. I do not want to make things awkward between us. Not now.' _Marinette begged in her mind.

Adrien was deep in his thoughts, the conversation he had with Nino still echoed in his head. _'Are you together or not? What are you doing to that girl? You are with Kagami. Chloe is all over you. Lila said you are secretly dating.'_ Nino has told him. Adrien rebutted everything Nino suggested. And he suggested a lot. Adrien could not blame him. It looked that way. The problem was, deep inside, Adrien knew he wanted what it looked like to be real. Nino praised his seducing skills, of all things. _'I knew you were a model, Dude. And the girls are after you. And all the boys are jealous. I mean, I have Alya, but still. But this was too much. That is Marinette, Dude. She is fourteen. She is not one of your models.'_ Nino half praised him half scolded him. _'And I know she would do anything to be with you, do not use her and leave her.' _Adrien blushed as he remembered the rest of the speech.

"That makes two of us." he finally spoke. Marinette raised her eyes to his. So he had an awkward conversation with Nino. It made sense. It was probably about the same stuff.

He smiled softly, his green eyes were so warm and loving. She lost the ability to speak.

"I do not want to make things awkward between us." Adrien whispered. "And if talking about what they told us would make things weird, then, let's not." He looked at her pleadingly. He wanted to talk with her, but not at all cost, not if he would lose anything of what they already had. He will call what they had a friendship if that was what she wanted and he hoped she would not push him away nor start to keep distance.

Marinette was taking deep breaths, breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out.

"Not talking. Okay. Got it." Marinette was maybe slightly disappointed. She had just got used to talking to the boy. "I mean, we said how we felt yesterday." She looked him in the eyes, her blue eyes were so open, she loved him so much, even more, much more than on the day they left Paris.

"I want to kiss you so much." Adrien whispered as he leaned in close to her face, his lips close to her ear, he should just turn his head slightly.

"I want to kiss you too but may I remind you that we are pretending to be brother and sister?" Marinette spoke quietly and sighed moving away slightly. She was Ladybug on a mission, spots on or not, and the boy in front of her was Chat Noir, whom she loved, but could not have, at least she believed that.

"Yeah, it could get awkward if we got caught." Adrien smirked and looked around. They were miraculously alone in this corridor in a rather overpopulated temple.

"That would be pure weird!" Marinette laughed. What possible excuse could they have for their current behaviour, let alone if they kissed.

"I forgot about that." Adrien smiled.

"I used that to explain to Alya how we got to share a sleeping bag." Marinette smiled proudly.

"Oh, I should have used that, perhaps I should call Nino and .." Adrien trailed off, he left the phone with the charging station.

"I am sure he already knows." Marinette smirked. Adrien smiled back lovingly. She was right. Whatever Alya knew was passed to Nino in a matter of seconds.

"We will have to talk about us one day." Adrien spoke gently, his face was so tender and loving, he was so open and vulnerable.

"Yes, we will, but now, I am still confused." Marinette wanted, really wanted them together. But she did not feel able to talk about that with him, not right then, at least she had an excuse that they were there to fight Hawk Moth (well, his father actually, how complicated can her life get?) and not to pursue romance.

"Yeah." He understood. "Okay, I just know that I love you, but right now I am probably not in the right state of mind for anything more than this. And right now means right now, today. Everything has changed so quickly." He tried to explain that even to himself.

"You are Chat." Marinette whispered.

"And you are Ladybug." Adrien whispered back with a huge grin on his face. His happiness has not subdued at all.

"This is so weird." She waved her head. "But good weird. In a positive way." she had to add.

"It is not weird, I love you and you love me. We are two kids." he smiled at that, he could be repeating that whole day.

"We are two superheroes who are expected to save Paris and the world against supervillains." She spoke but she regretted reminding him of that. "We are in an ancient temple that resurrected after almost two hundred years."

"Because you did your job well." Adrien smiled.

"I am fourteen, I am not supposed to have a job, you heard them this morning, United Nations, children's rights and all." Marinette winked.

Adrien's face fell a bit "I have a job for as long as I could remember."

"We are being trained by monks who had missed the last 175 years on Earth." Marinette smiled, that was a change of subject, she wanted him away from the dark thoughts. Hawk moth was establishing his lair in a container, just below. She should be making attack strategies. This time they had an opportunity to strike first.

"Because you kicked the ass of that 175 years old sentimonster." Adrien winked.

"And you dressed in a banana costume." Marinette laughed.

"That costume was cool." Adrien pouted.

"My outfit was cool, your was weird." Marinette smirked again. Good a change of subject.

They were talking about anything. They did not know if and when they are coming back to Paris and when and that seemed very far away. Gabriel and Nathalie appeared at the temple door that day and they will have to fight their monsters and them in person. Adrien had no home to come back to (not that he had that in the first place, but at least he had a house to live in). Everything flashed through their minds, nothing came out from their mouths.

As relaxing as the conversation was, something was bothering him to get out.

"If you want to talk about the weird stuff, we can talk about my father being Hawk Moth." Adrien's face darkened. "And Nathalie being Mayura."

"Yeah, I should be making the plan of attack." Marinette whispered. Her eyes narrowed and became more determined. "This is the first time we can attack him. We actually know where Hawk Moth is and who is he."

"We should just go and transform and go for him." Adrien clenched his fist and flexed his muscles. Marinette laughed at that.

"What?" he pouted.

"Yes, we could, but then he would instantly know we are already here." Marinette reminded him.

"We have an element of surprise." Adrien pushed his idea further.

"Yes we do, but the moment we burst into the camp, they will transform." Marinette waved her head. "I want us on a safe road." And she did not want to see Chat Noir hurt. Especially now that she knew he was Adrien. Which in itself, proved that the reveal had some bad consequences. But she was worried about Chat before. Right? Was she fooling herself? The reveal has impacted her judgement.

"Okay, what is the safe road?" Adrien smirekd.

"So I was thinking, we deflect a few attacks on the temple and then he leaves. Alya could expose his identity on the Ladyblog or I could even ask Nadia. But, that would be bad for you." Marinette whispered. She knew the flaws already.

"The important part plan is that we wait for the first akuma, transform and fight, claim that we teleported from Paris and disappear. He will not think that we are in Tibet." Marinette whispered.

"But he will know that we know that he is here and that we can get here in no time." Adrien noted.

"Yeah, I was thinking of maybe telling the akuma, that would be the same as telling Hawk Moth, that we think he teleported them from Paris?" Marinette proposed. The plan was maybe a bit childish but she was forcing her brain to work in front of Adrien, while he kept his hands on her shoulder or waist.

Adrien nodded. His lady was making plans.

"Okay, then if we look for him after that, we would not be exposing our identities. We can teleport back in the cave or straight into his lair." Marinette whispered.

Adrien nodded again. He took a shaky breath. They were making plans of attack on his father. He understood why not knowing identities was a blessing, it would be much easier to make plans of attack against Hawk Moth that was not his father.

"Adrien, do you know what it means for you if we win?" Marinette whispered. "Because I do not. We have to stripe them of their miraculous and I do not know what the authorities would do with them afterwards." She took in a shaky breath.

"Nothing like that would be bad for me. Would you like to live with Hawk Moth and Mayura? Me not." Adrien waved his head. "There are just moments when I can't believe it is true. There are moments when I am angry at them and angry at the world." _But I look at you and the anger passes quickly._ He smiled at the thought. "There are moments when I get sad because it happened to me, but then I remember I am also Chat Noir and I can do something about it. I can fight them." Adrien held her shoulders for his own reassurance. "And there are moments when I understand all of this would have been much easier if I did not know the identities of everyone involved."

Marinette looked at him, shy and insecure. Was this about her? She did not have a firm plan yet. She did not have her lucky charm in a form of a screwdriver that should somehow help her to fight against a flame throwing ghost akuma.

"You know kid" Plagg finally could not hold it inside himself. "We could just stay here and enjoy the smelly goat and yak cheese those nice nomads make down on the plain."

"You know they have to resolve this on their own." Tikki scolded. "Adrien you are right, you were keeping your identities hidden for a reason. But you had to come over here. The temple would not allow you to keep your identities hidden. Now you will have to fight with the weight of the knowledge upon your shoulders."

"Yes, I can do that, I will do that." Adrien confirmed. "Actually, if I learned all this in a middle of a battle, I do not know what I would do. It is easier to decide like this."

"And nothing will change your mind?" Tikki chirped.

"Nothing will change my mind." Adrien replied firmly and full of self-confidence.

The two kwami hid in their clothes while Adrien pulled Marinette in a hug.

"Ahem" someone coughed behind Adrien's back.


	42. Chapter 42 - Not Really A Surprise

Not really a surprise

"Ahem" someone coughed behind Adrien's back. Their guide from the bus, the government official that took their papers, the same woman who told Marinette that she would freeze in that tent (it was all the same person) got out from behind one of the tapestries.

"You are wanted upstairs." The guide told them with a wide grin on her face.

Adrien let go if Marinette as if he was touching electric wire.

Marinette briefly thanked with a nod and quickly turned around and walked away. She focused on moving her feet and did not notice what happened just behind her.

Adrien was much more fluent in expressing his gratitude for passing the message and would follow Marinette instantly, but a hand grabbed him around his wrist.

"You and your _sister_ are wanted upstairs." She spoke gently and pronounced sister affectionately

Adrien turned around. With the way she pronounced sister he knew they were busted.

"You and your sister are both over eighteen right?" She smiled knowingly.

"Well I can assure you that we are both responsible and reliable persons." Adrien returned his best model smile.

"And you are both Chinese citizens." The guide made a show of looking him over.

Adrien scratched the back of his neck. "Well I really wanted to practice my skills in speaking Chinese." Adrien changed to a different model smile, perhaps that one would work better.

The guide tilted her head and gave him a look. "I can assure you your Chinese is excellent." She smirked.

"My father is French. I mean her father is too I mean ..." Adrien stumbled the words out until she cut him off.

"You two better have more than one father! And, young man, you better watch what you are doing because you will wish her father caught you instead of me." the woman was smiling and winked at him.

Adrien remembered Weredad for some reason.

"I can assure you my intentions are honourable and I treat her with respect." he summoned his courage and looked her in the eyes without plastering any of his fake smiles. But she was smiling and he smiled back.

The guide raised an eyebrow.

"Neither of you are 18?" she asked next.

Adrien sighed and confirmed.

"Do her parents know?" she inquired.

"Yes they do" Adrien sighed relieved that he can at least confirm that and then he briefly explained how they got there.

"Good. It seems you are what these monks were looking for. We are supposed to study them and get some information on what actually happened here. I have a feeling you could help?" The woman raised an eyebrow. She smiled in a friendly way, it did not look as if he was in particular trouble. The woman knew she was in trouble too, it was her who let them on the bus.

"The two old bats refuse to tell us when they are born, could you help us with that?" she tried with an easier task.

Adrien accepted the offer to try to get more information (actually to get an agreement what story to tell). Then he finally ran after Marinette, he knew the way well.

When he entered the room, Marinette looked at him with eyes full of worry.

Adrien greeted as he entered and Tenzin nodded to reply to the greeting.

"Finally, you are here. Plagg tell him how your previous wielders fought supervillains that were actually their parents." Dolma spoke first.

Plagg phased out from Adrien's clothes.

"Don't listen to her kid." Plagg was quiet but very determined.

"Plagg, tell them both." Tenzin said encouragingly and nodded his head. "They should know the odds."

"He will fight his father and he will win." Plagg exclaimed putting his hands on his hips.

Tikki floated next to Plagg and nodded her head.

"At what price?" Dolma insisted.

Plagg lowered his eyes.

"Only one of his wielders won a fight against his parent and lived, but he was much older than you." Tenzin spoke gently.

"This kid can do it." Plagg insisted.

"They all won if they chose to fight, but they lost their lives as a consequence." Dolma explained patiently but her voice trembled a bit.

"Because you chose a safe route I lost two. Because the guardians advised to take a route without a fight." Plagg insisted.

"They went back in history to prevent what happened." Plagg continued in a dark tone. "One prevented herself being born and the other was not saved by his mother from something, I actually do not know."

"Is not that a paradox?" Adrien asked.

"They created a new timeline without a villain and without themselves" Tenzin shrugged. "We can not really know what happened."

"Except I remember they existed." Plagg retorted.

"Dear young man." Dolma was pleasant for the first time after the initial talk with Marinette only. "Tenzin have told me and Marinette has told me that you have died for her before."

"Yes, and she brought me back." Adrien smiled gently to Marinette.

"That might not always be possible." Tenizin warned.

"She brought you back, after so many years." Adrien waved his hands to gesture to the whole room.

"Yes, after so many years." Tenizin nodded thoughtfully.

"It does not matter, I will do it anyway." Adrien looked with determination in his eyes.

"You should understand, it might happen that she will have to chose to bring everyone, you and Hawk Moth and Mayura back or leave you all as you are at the end of the battle." Tenzin spoke quietly. Marinette felt her heart sink. They were doubting Adrien, while in fact they should doubt her.

"And are you ready to accept his sacrifice?" Dolma turned to Marinette reading the expression on her face.

"I want him to be happy. He said he would be miserable if he returned to his father." Marinette spoke to the carpet hiding her eyes that were filling with tears.

"But alive." Tenzin whispered.

"He might not have to sacrifice anything." Tikki chipped in. For her there was always hope, everything would be okay.

"Young man" Dolma said affectionately. "You two are amazing wielders. You brought us back. Your father has much to promise you if you join him."

"I feel as if I had no life before this." Adrien looked at her and meant it, honestly coming back to the life he had before he went to school and became Chat Noir seamed like a destiny worse than death.

There was a sense of conclusion at those words. Everyone fell silent and contemplated. Marinette fought the tears away. Adrien took her hand and held her.

"The two of you fought a sentimonster without powers." Tenzin spoke.

"Yes but not all the way." Marinette confirmed in the calmest voice she could muster.

"That is understandable." Dolma nodded.

"We expect you to defend us then." Tenzin said solemnly.

"I just wish you were a little older." Dolma continued. Tikki and Plagg raised their eyes to the two old monks in understanding.

"This temple will be attacked tonight." Tenzin whispered.

"We can feel the evil doing." Dolma warned.

Gabriel managed to catch a butterfly that landed on a torch once the daylight faded and brought it into the container. Finally he had a butterfly and transformed into Hawk Moth while still holding it. All he needed was someone to akumatize. And the best victim he could sense was a homesick solider in the same camp.

"Well, he will do for the start." Hawk Moth snarled and evilized the butterfly.

The butterfly flutters to an unsuspecting young solider and enters his belt.

"Homesicker, I give you great strength and power to cross long distances with great speed. I want you to go to the temple and find magical stones that they are hiding." Hawk Moth placed his offer.

The solder accepted and his uniform turned purple, his belt turned violet and glowed. The solider walked out and moved his belt a little. He instantly floated upwards and towards the temple.

"We can feel the evil doing." Dolma warned.

At that moment noise could be heard from the outside as the akuma zapped to the window. Marinette grabbed Adrien's hood and covered his hair.

"Take the two of them out." Adrien spoke to Dorje and the strong young monk grabbed the two older ones one on each arm and carried them away. Pema extinguished the candle. They hid to the side, in the dark. All four of them wrapped their heads in scarves that Pema produced from where they were neatly folded on the side.

Adrien and Marinette went towards the window, their instincts told them to go and fight, but Pema pulled them back and waved her head for them to go to the corridor. Marinette agreed and pulled reluctant Adrien by his hand. They found Dorje who hid glasses in a small pocket in his robes.

"Let's make him follow us." Marinette whispered and everyone nodded.

The akuma appeared just behind them as he moved with great speed.

"I am Homesicker. Give me all the magical stones that you have here." The akuma spoke.

Both Adrien and Marinette noticed the change of the usual request the akuma had.

"Ask him why does he need them." Marinette whispered to Adrien.

"Why to you need them." Adrien asked loudly.

"I need them to go home." the akuma replied. "Now give me any magical stones that you have."

The four of them were running away from the akuma that followed floating after them. They ran down the stairs and down the wide corridors where many students walked with their phones and more than a few took pictures of the strange creature passing through the hallway before they escaped and hid. The akuma tried to get magical stones from them.

"You want some magical stones. Than follow us." Adrien chanted every time the akuma directed his attention to one of the students or other monks.

They walked out from the temple and the akuma followed them. Marinette picked a stone from the ground and gave that to the confused akuma.

"Now you can go home." they told him.

While the akuma stared at the stone in his palm, a violet mask glowed on his face as Hawk Moth spoke to him. Adrien dragged Marinette away. Dorje and Pema were close. They ran towards the ledge and carefully climbed down in the darkness. They stood in front of the cave entrance waiting to see what the akuma will do.

The akuma moved his belt in one direction and floated away from the temple quickly but argued with Hawk Moth on the way. After a while, he moved the belt again and moved back but then he finally stopped a few hundred meters in the distance. His suit glowed in the darkness while his belt was shining.

"He controls his movement by moving his belt." Adrien spoke.

"That must be where the akuma is hiding. Okay, we will need teleportation right there." Marinette whispered to Dorje and pointed to the spot right below. They went to the cave.

The akuma moved around the whole time with great speed but was frequently in the area that he occupied just before the trio entered the cave to transform. Pema stayed outside to watch.

After three transformation lights, Marinette called her lucky charm.

She got a torch. She turned it around in her hands a few times, switched it on and then off and smiled.

"Here is the plan." Marinette whispered. "Horse, hold on to the portal for as long as you can, I'd like to come back before I have to detransform."

Horse created a portal close to the ground while the akuma was flying in the air. Homesicker argued with Hawk Moth, he wanted to head home and Hawk Moth wanted stones.

Ladybug and Chat Noir stepped out from the portal. They looked up. Chat Noir extended his baton and put one end to the ground. He flicked his tail towards Ladybug who turned on the torch and pointed it upwards towards the path that akuma took high up in the air. The light has blinded the akuma slightly and Homesicker stooped in the spot. Ladybug held on to the tail, the staff was between her and Chat, while she pulled herself off the staff with her feet. Chat extended the staff and they were rising in the air. She was rather visible in her suit, but Chat was slightly higher and on the other side of the staff and not lit up by the torch. The akuma looked down towards the Ladybug and the portal. She knew they had only one chance before they had to retreat. It seamed that the only weapon this akuma had was the speed. And she assumed there was some enhanced strength to add to that. It made sense if Hawk Moth wanted someone who would quickly search through the temple and escape. She threw her yoyo and wrapped it around the akuma to keep it still while Chat activated the cataclysm and touched the belt.

"You are really fast." Ladybug spoke to the confused victim who did not understand a word of French. "How did you get here? Teleportation?"

The belt disintegrated and a dark violet butterfly flew out from the belt. Chat quickly caught the dazed solder while Ladybug used the torch to find the violet butterfly. She unwrapped her yoyo from the solder and launched it after the butterfly. "Enough evil doing for you little akuma." she called and caught the butterfly "Gotcha!" then she retracted her yoyo and released a white butterfly. "Bye bye little butterfly."

Chat was already retracting his staff and they touched the ground. They patted the back of the solider. Chat did not want to speak Chinese to the solder to help him recover afraid that would give a hint to his identity although Hawk Moth could not listen, Gabriel could ask the solder later in the camp.

Ladybug and Chat Noir quickly retreated towards the portal and Ladybug threw the torch in the air with "Miraculous Ladybug" to restore any damage.

They returned to the cave and detransformed.

"This one was quick." Adrien smirked.

"Hawk Moth forgot to give him weapons, he was fast and strong but was not created to fight." Marinette warned. "That will not happen the next time."

They gave their kwami some food and walked out.

"How? Why? They teleported here? But how did they know?" Hawk moth whined in the container as he detransformed.

Nathalie opened the Ladyblog and found there was a submission done by a guest user about an akuma near the temple in Tibet with a GPS location marked. As she updated the page, she could find a few photos and even a short film. Gabriel groaned and damned the new technology.


	43. Chapter 43 - Alya calling

Alya calling

They discussed the fight excitedly and high on adrenaline all the way back to the temple. The fight was short and none of them felt exhausted. Except Marinette was worried. She did not want to be relaxed in this situation.

In the temple, they were way more quiet. When they finally got to the charging station to pick up their phones, both Marinette and Adrien had missed calls from Alya. Adrien also had missed calls from Nino. They exchanged one look and Adrien decided to call Nino first. However, as in almost every video call he made, he wrapped the other arm around Marinette.

"Hi Adrien." Nino greeted happy and cheerful. "Are you two having fun there?" The double meaning of the sentence made both of them blush. The fact that Nino wiggled his eyebrows at them one the screen did not help.

"Hi Nino." Adrien greeted in a slightly restrained tone giving away how he was annoyed.

"Hi Nino." Marinette greeted in a pitch an octave higher than usual. Her face was completely hot.

"Have you two been busy with something and could not answer?" Nino teased.

Marinette froze, that was the truth but she could never admit what they were doing. But Adrien had an idea. He smirked and looked at the screen mischievously.

"Actually, yes we were very busy here." the tone of his voice was equally teasing. Marinette wanted to plop down. Adrien kept her on her feet and next to him by holding her tighter. Nino noticed the move.

"Really? What is the time of the day with you?" Nino asked, but the tone of his voice revealed he already knew.

"It is already night time, see." Adrien rotated the phone a bit, weather he recognized the joke and played along or not was anyone's guess.

"And what have you two been doing in the dark?" Nino sing-songed his question dragging every vowel.

"We went outside for a while." Adrien played it cool. Everything he said was the truth. Marinette was mortified. Her usual excuse was that she was on the toilet or preparing a birthday cake for her grandpa's rats, whatever. This was not something she would do to hide her identity.

"Did you have fun?" Nino asked and pushed his face closer to the camera.

Marinette covered her face, she could not handle this kind of pressure right then.

"Oh, yes, I had fun. How about you Marinette, did you have fun too?" he answered with a smirk and nudged Marinette to answer. She peeked between her fingers ad Adrien and groaned.

"Come on, it was not that bad." Adrien moved the hand he was holding her up and down her shoulder.

Marinette nodded.

Nino pretended to scream into the air.

"Actually, there was an akuma. It got into the temple so we ran outside" Adrien said in more serious tone.

"Oh, I know. Alya is editing the Ladyblog." Nino smirked.

"She called us both, but we could not answer because we left the phones to charge." Adrien spoke quietly.

"Yeah. Don't tell me about the fight, you will have to repeat everything to Alya anyway. Tell me how is your little sister, Adrien?" Nino teased.

It was time for Adrien to blush. Marinette removed her hands from her face. Okay, so Alya told him. That was all just teasing. She looked at Adrien's face and smiled.

"I think she is okay. Perhaps a little tense from the whole experience, but okay." Adrien spoke while he looked at the blushing girl lovingly.

Nino almost melted at the sight. Then they heard a telltale sound of a screenshot and turned to the phone screen instantly.

"Oh, don't mind me." Nino smiled.

"So how are things in Paris?" Adrien asked to change the subject and make Marinette more comfortable.

"Well, you know there are school holidays. Here we have picnics in parks and music in the street and evening festivals and, you know, the usual boring stuff of Paris." Nino smirked. "Most of the class went somewhere. Alya and me are both stuck here babysitting and getting messages from our nice classmates." Nino rolled his eyes and turned the phone to show them. They were in a park and Ella and Etta were chasing Chris around a merry-go-round. "Alya is finally busy with the Ladyblog." He turned the camera to show Alya sitting on a bench nearby. "Both of her parents and my dad are working extra shifts these two weeks replacing colleagues who went on holidays." Nino shrugged. "The weather is nice, we walk around all day and sometimes visit Juleka, Rose and Luka on Liberty. Anarka made pancakes yesterday."

"Is that them?" they heard Alya in the background and saw Nino nod.

"Give them to me!" she stomped over to Nino and snatched his phone.

"Hi Alya." Marinette and Adrien greeted in unison.

"Hi you two." Alya took a moment to study what she could see on the screen and the picture she saw made her smile gently. But then she schooled herself and made a more serious face.

"Girl, I called you!" she waved her index finger.

"I left the phone on the charger Alya." Marinette whined a bit.

"We escaped out of the temple while the akuma chased us." Adrien smirked.

"Okay, what were the powers? What did he do? Who got akumatized? You know the drill." Alya shoved the phone back to Nino while she took her own phone to type.

"Um, he could go really fast." Marinette shrugged uncertain how far should she go with the description.

"He moved by moving his belt." Adrien added. Marinette looked at him. He shrugged. "I mean, we saw that he moved his belt before he started to move really quickly."

"So he moved around really quickly." Marinette concluded.

"And we think it was a solder because of the uniform." Adrien nodded. Brief and to the point. Alya should be happy.

"Okay, did you see how Ladybug and Chat Noir teleported?" Alya asked.

"Um yeah?" Marinette shrugged. Alya apparently knew already.

"One user sent a picture that he claims was a portal. I am not sure if I should post it or not." Alya shrugged.

"If Ladybug and Chat Noir were in Paris, they could only teleport here, right?" Adrien raised his eyebrows.

"Yes." Alya confirmed. "How long was the fight?"

"Less than five minutes." Marinette replied confidently.

"More like about two?" Adrien asked.

Marinette shrugged.

Ling and Ye approached proudly waving their phones. Then Ling noticed who was on Adrien's screen.

"Hi Alya!" Ling greeted and waved her phone. "I put a picture of an akuma on your blog." the girl squealed in excitement.

"It was you?" Alya squealed back. "Oh, how about an interview?" Alya asked quickly.

Adrien handed Ling the phone and the two chatted about the akuma for a short while with Ye jumping in with a few notes.

Adrien looked at Marinette's cousins and waved his head. "Alya never changes."

Marinette sighed and smiled. That was good distraction. Perhaps they should have ran down to the container immediately after recharging their kwami and attacked Hawk Moth instantly after they defeated the akuma, but perhaps showing him that they could intervene even there might be enough to discourage him from further attacks on the temple. It was difficult to defend a place where you can't be a superhero.

Marinette's phone rang. It was a call from Nino.

"Hi Nino" Marinette greeted and looked at Adrien.

"Hi Marinette." Nino greeted. "Listen, I need to talk to you."

"Okay."

"Are you okay with Adrien?" Nino asked.

Marinette nodded forgetting that this was not a video call.

"Yes" she breathed out. Adrien put his ear close by to be able to overhear the conversation and Marinette let him.

"I know Alya talked with you this morning and I spoke with Adrien, and I told him things." Nino started to appologize.

"It does not matter, okay." Marinette cut him off.

"I said some thingy and I am sorry. I did not know you were pretending to be brother and sister." Nino was apologizing although he knew very well how the pictures looked like. And he also knew how his friend was oblivious. That morning he probably said a bit too much to Adrien.

"Can I talk to Adrien for a minute?" Nino finished.

"Okay." she replied quietly.

"Okay, thank you Marinette." Nino greeted.

"Thank you Nino and good night." Nino was a bit confused and looked at the sunny noon skies over Paris.

"Good night?" he asked. Marinette confirmed and passed the phone. She did not eavesdrop, but she guessed the conversation was rather similar.

Nino understood his comments made things awkward for Marinette and probably Adrien although he joined the teasing. He saw the picture on his phone and did not want to spoil whatever was going on between his two friends. Apparently him and Alya have jumped to conclusions the day before.

"Thank you both very much for the photos and the interview." Alya greeted. "Please give me Marinette back." Alya asked when she finished asking questions to Ling and Ye.

Marinette held the phone in her hands and feared what was coming next.

"Girl, your cousins are unbelievable." she squealed excitedly.

Marinette smiled relieved they would not talk about what she dreaded the most.

"Yes, they got interested in your blog this afternoon." Marinette confirmed.

"They said I can't mention you." Alya raised an eyebrow.

"That is complicated, we should not have been in the temple in the first place. We cheated in our application forms and this is how Adrien became my brother." Marinette explained briefly.

Alya was practically shaking the whole time. She wanted to laugh. She wanted to ask questions. Like how it was to share a sleeping bag with her long time crush with whom she could barely speak. But Alya decided to be a stoic that day and resisted the temptation. The fact that she could busy herself with the Ladyblog instead of her best friends love life was also helping. And Adrien might be listening nearby. She did not know that they admitted to each other that they love each other. She saw the pictures and the video calls and assumed much more was going on. Then she got a cold shower about them pretending to be brother and sister.

"Tell me more about the temple." she asked instead. And Marinette told her about where they sleep and where they eat. But then she remembered one thing.

"Alya, please do not put all these details about the temple on the Ladyblog just yet, okay?" Marinette begged. This information could reveal more about the temple than Hawk Moth knows already. She did not want him to read that information from the Ladyblog. This was a media and information warfare. She had to be more careful. Alya promised to wait with that information. She had plenty of material on the akuma.

This time it was Alya who had to stop the call because her battery was nearly empty.

They went to eat dinner and change so they would go to sleep. They knew they needed sleep. The next akuma attack could be at any moment and the next battle would be exhausting.

Marinette went into the sleeping bag first and Adrien went after her zipping it shut. It was cold and he pulled her closer and cuddled next to her.

"Marinette." Adrien whispered. "The guide, she knows we are not supposed to be here, she knows we are not siblings, nor Chinese nor over eighteen." he said in one breath. Marinette stiffened. "She is okay. She just want some data for the government programme. She wants our help."

"Okay." Marinette whispered and relaxed. "We can stay?"

"Yeah. I was thinking. I think she is in trouble too if she tells on us." Adrien replied.

"What does she want?" Marinette removed her head to be able to see his face.

"Just some ordinary data, the years of birth etc." Adrien shrugged as much as he could.

"Okay." Marinette spoke in small voice.

They stayed like that in silence. The room was dark and they could barely see each other in close distance. They could hear the excited voices of the students around them who were telling and retelling the events of the day, particularly the akuma attack. They could even recognize the word Ladyblog from time to time.

They stayed like that, staring at each other and listening to the background noise for a long time until their eyes got tired and closed on their own while their owners were already asleep.


	44. Chapter 44 - Nightmares

Nightmares

Marinette had the same nightmare. Timebreaker. Same old same old. He disappeared. She held on Adrien tightly and woke up. He was here. He was her Chat. And he was alive and asleep. He was safe in her arms. She fell asleep. And the Timebreaker returned. This time she felt him even in her sleep. But he moved. He gasped for air. Perhaps she held him too tight. She let go. But then he grabbed her back in his sleep and held so tight he almost crushed her. He was shaking. He was crying.

"What was it?" she asked once his breathing became slightly less erratic.

"Desperada, but with my father in place of Vivica." Adrien whispered. "And he laughed at me every time. He called me incompetent. He called me Adrien."

Marinette rubbed his back.

"I am here." she whispered.

"What about you?" he asked. He felt her sleep was restless too.

"Timebreaker." she answered simply. Adrien never understood why was that particular akuma so bad for his lady. "I held you like this. She touched you. You disappeared. I went back in time and another timeline was created."

"I am here." he whispered.

They stayed like that and their breathing slowed down a bit, but none of them fell asleep. It was too dark for them to see the details on each other's faces.

She closed her eyes and concentrated on her breathing and listened to his breathing. He was breathing steadily and she assumed he fell back asleep. She felt his arms around her, one under her head and another thrown over her waist, holding her. She held him back, feeling he was there was comforting after the nightmare she had. Chat was safe. At that moment it was more important to her to know that Chat was safe than to think of Adrien being there. But they were the same person. So confusing. Adrien looked more like Chat every day, his hair was a hopeless mess, his skin got darker because of the exposure to the sun at high altitudes and he behaved like Chat more and more each day.

Marinette contemplated when she had a shower last time, they have only used wash cloth and water in the temple. It was a blessing because the water was cold. The only smell she felt was some lavender oil sleeping bag freshener (that also keeps bugs away) that Ling recommended in the shop. They both smelled like lavender. Their hair and their onesies. Everything.

Adrien loved the smell of lavender. He did not appreciate it much before, but the smell of lavender was the smell of the sleeping bag. And she was there in that sleeping bug. Marinette. Ladybug. She was there safe in his arms and it was nice to be reassured that way. She was probably asleep because her breathing was so calm so he kept quiet and motionless. He refused to think about the future, everything was vague and undefined, even the morning seemed like a really far future. Another akuma might strike at any moment. He should probably should get some sleep while he could.

She moved. His breath hitched.

"You awake?" they both whispered and then chuckled in response.

"What do you think about doing some scouting? You know, spying on them?" She whispered.

"Yeah, let's go, anything is better than laying awake waiting for the next akuma to strike." he replied.

They sneaked out from they sleeping bags. Adrien grabbed his jacket that was on top of the pile and steadied the rest from falling down. He knew the jacket was black with green buttons and few surfaces, but these surfaces reflected any light and the jacket was not useful for sneaking around. Adrien got a small torch from the pocket and left the jacket there. The fleece onesies reflected nothing, they were perfect for sneaking out. The two teens padded their way between the sleeping students, few of them were awake with their phones on.

When they reached the main entrance, Adrien peeked out. The moonlight clearly shown a figure standing in front of the temple and watching the main path.

"The main entrance is watched." Adrien whispered.

"What did you expect, kid?" Plagg retorted floating in the air next to Adrien. "There are more of them in that tent over there." Plagg showed with his eyes because those were the only things on him visible in the darkness.

The monk that sat just inside gave them one look. He knew who they were and why they were there and decided to just let them be.

Marinette struggled to find her shoes in the darkness of the hallway leading to the main entrance.

"I know I left them here, but I can't be sure these are mine in the darkness, Tikki." Marinette whispered. Tikki jumped from shoe to shoe. Soon, a pair of green eyes joined her.

"Ugh, these are Adrien's." Plagg soon announced pretending to be disgusted by the smell, but nobody even saw how the black cat kwami held his nose with his paw in the darkness.

Adrien hissed and took the shoes.

"And these are yours, Pigtails." Plagg hopped up and down on another pair. Marinette took them. But none of them put them on their feet, they would produce noise if they walked to stone hallways in hiking boots.

They sneaked around the temple carrying their shoes in their hands until they got to a more secluded way out that Pema showed them that morning. They had to feel they way there with their hands. Plagg helped with his night vision, but he also deliberately made them run into each other inside a small niche instead of a narrow passage that would lead them out. Adrien wanted to scold him, but Marinette grabbed his hand and shushed him.

"We have to keep quiet." she whispered close to his ear.

As soon as they got out they put on their shoes to climb down the rocks.

"Kid, do you by any chance have any cheese on you for your benevolent guide?" Plagg hovered centimetres from Adrien's face.

"Plagg, I did bring one piece but that was in the case of an akuma attack, you can live." Adrien pulled his face back a bit.

"I am on mere survival rations here." Plagg grumbled while they crawled over the rocks to reach the steps going down. The moonlight was barely sufficient to navigate them.

"You get plenty of cheese." Adrien replied quietly.

"Really, I do not. The last time I had plenty of cheese was on that airplane." Plagg patted his belly and sighed dreamily.

"You mean when you annihilated the cheese supply for the business class?" Adrien replied.

"shh" Marinette quiet them down and Tikki grabbed Plagg to quiet him down.

They were approaching the step that lead to the temple over the steep slope of the cliff. They took a wide way around the solder that was guarding the temple entrance and descended to the steps. Going down the steps in the darkness was much easier.

Plagg sat in Adrien's hair and steered him by pulling his hair left and right. It was not the most pleasant way to communicate, but they avoided talking and Plagg's teasing that way. Adrien took Marinette's hand and lead her down the stairs. The steps on the stairs were of irregular size and winded down the face of the cliff without any fence so they both kept their free hand on the cliff wall.

Once down, they both sighed in relief but faced a different issue. They sneaked up towards the camp, but the camp was lit and there was a guard. They would risk getting caught in the middle of the night by the solider on the guard duty and this would definitely draw further attention to them, at best. The worst option was that Gabriel and Nathalie would realize who are they. And that was a bit too much to risk for both of them.

"Their container is almost in the middle of the camp." Marinette whispered.

"At least it is well lit all around." Adrien noted with a bit of disappointment in his tone.

"We might try a different approach." Marinette looked at the cliffs above the camp.

"Yeah, I get what you mean." Adrien whispered back.

They carefully climbed the rocks in the dark. They were tens of meters above the camp and well hidden in the dark watching what was going on below. They avoided to speak as much as they could during climbing. Their kwami kept silent and Plagg steered Adrien in the dark while Adrien helped Marinette as much as he could communicating throught touch, but she followed after him in the dark as best as she could.

Adrien pointed to one solder walking through the camp and Marinette nodded. Then after a minute Marinette pointed to another solder and raised two fingers. Adrien nodded. They crawled up the rocks slowly, careful not to produce any sound. Their only light was the moonlight and that part of the cliff was in the shade, so they relied mostly on their sense of touch.

"My Lady" Adrien whispered. "There is a small hiding spot here." Adrien rolled to the side and pulled Marinette along. They rolled on top of each other for a few minutes. Adrien grinned as he ended up on top of her. But it seemed worn out at that moment.

"Do you think you could hear them all the way up here if you transformed?" Marinette whispered.

"You are reading my mind." Adrien grinned. He was all Chat. With a few words, Adrien transformed into Chat Noir. The flash of light was hidden from everyone but the open sky as they were hiding in a small hole between the rocks.

Chat Noir sighed with relief. It was much easier this way. He could see everything, every little detail of their surroundings. Without missing a beat he scooped Marinette on his back and jumped the rocks soundlessly, holding onto them with his claws. In a few jumps, they were on a top of an exposed rock just above the camp. Even Marinette could hear the solders footsteps on the gravel.

A door squeaked being open.

"Sir." a rush of footsteps was heard approaching a container. "You do not have the permit to wander around in the night." An unfamiliar voice warned in a careful voice, clearly the man that spoke was running or walking quickly.

"Why am I not allowed out." A very familiar voice of Gabriel Agreste spoke. It was not even toned as a question, it was more like a side remark disregarding the authority of the person who spoke.

"Sir, stop!" a completely different tone of the same voice meant business. "I have to stop you, it is my job." the voice warned very seriously.

"What if I need to use your toilet facilities." Gabriel spoke sternly.

"You have all the necessities inside. You have the pot next to your night stand, below the bed." the voice warned.

Chat could hear Gabriel sighing heavily and retreating to the container. The fact that the given solder had his weapon on ready probably helped tame his father and made him return to his premisses. The door to the container shut down so loudly that Chat winced. Marinette held him tightly. He spied on his own father. She could only imagine how hard it was for him.

But Chat felt no issues. This was not the first time Adrien spied on his father, and this time he was Chat, using his enhanced hearing. Marinette calmed down her breathing as much as she could not to disturb him. Chat was trying to hear the conversation that unfolded inside the container.

"I could not get that butterfly." Gabriel sighed in frustration. "That man almost pointed his weapon at me." Like, how dare that solder, member of the army in this country try to keep someone like Gabriel in his contained during the night. "That was entirely unacceptable behaviour." Gabriel snarled. He will make sure the person gets fired in the morning. The only problem was, Gabriel did tno employ the Chinese solders. How unfortunate the situation was. Well, he decided he will make do whit what he had.

"Do you feel anyone who would be prone to akumatization?" Nathalie asked.

"Actually, no, not so much, nobody is angry or sad, not even frustrated at the moment." Gabriel was disappointed, utterly disappointed. The further he got from major urban areas, the worse it got. Beijing was like a paradise so many people, always some poor soul feeling desperate at the heat of the moment, but he had not butterflies.

"Not sufficient for a sentimonster?" Nathalie suggested.

"No, not even nightmares. I could sense a few only moments ago." Gabriel waved his head.

Both Marinette and Chat stiffened a bit. Was Hawk Moth able to sense their nightmares? They would have to take good care of each other if they wanted to prevent being chased by a violet butterfly in the middle of the night.

"Perhaps we should go up there ourselves then?" Nathalie proposed.

"We could transform and search the temple ourselves." Gabriel pondered on the proposal.

"On the other hand, it is more practical to use akumas and sentimonsters." Nathalie continued their exchange.

"I would prefer not to be seen transformed here." Gabriel dismissed the proposal.

"Especially since we could end up on the news in France." Nathalie was tapping on her tablet. It was really annoying that the news on the akuma in Tibet were on French blog in a matter of minutes.

"I need more butterflies. I need to catch them. These wild butterflies are by no means tame. They are much harder to catch and control." Gabriel complained in stern voice.

"But Gabriel, that only means you did a fabulous job on raising your own breed in Paris." Nathalie praised him, probably only to push him in a better mood.

"That got stuck in a quarantine in Beijing." Gabriel cut off. They both kept silent for a while and Chat was ready to signal Marinette that they were finished and could head back to the temple. His father and Nathalie were not going to try anything tonight.

"I am sorry Nathalie." Gabriel spoke quietly.

"It is all right sir, you are under a lot of stress." Nathalie replied barely above a whisper.

"I am asking too much fom you." Gabriel said in a tome that was half appology half telling Nathalie that he considered she was not able to do better.

"I would do anything for you sir." Nathalie replied in a soft voice.

There was more talk and more sounds that made Adrien blush and conclude that his father has moved on after his mother disappeared. That meant that his father was not doing all that to bring back his mother. Then he blushed even more and decided to stop eavesdropping, Sometimes it was nicer to live without some knowledge or experiences. Chat put Marinette on his back and jumped up from one rock to another until they were in front of the small cave they used to transform before. They entered and Chat detransformed into Adrien.

"They are not attacking tonight, no butterflies and probably no candidates." Adrien summarized what he heard. "They are not allowed to walk around once it is dark."

"Okay, we can go back to the temple or make a plan for attack." Marinette whispered. She would prefer to wait for them to bcome nervous and make an error.

Adrien was ready to go to attack, but had no plan. And he has learned so far that attacking without a plan was not a good idea. Unless you were cornered.

"We might sleep on that. But with no nightmares. That is important." Adrien whispered back. None of them wanted to fight a nightmare akuma on the Tibetan plateau.

They carefully returned to the temple and to their sleeping bag. After they spied on their enemy a little, it was easier to fetch some sleep before the morning.


	45. Chapter 45 - The Peace and Tranquility

The akuma of peace and tranquillity

There was nothing that would wake you up as efficiently as an akuma attack.

Gabriel did not sleep. Oh no. Sleep was for the weak. He advised Nathalie to rest as he wanted to make an efficient double attack the next day. He was to sit and contemplate. So he sat and contemplated. The attack by the akumatized solder he hastily set up in the evening was not efficient. He gave the akuma powers to move quickly expecting this would enable the akuma to go through the temple and find the magical stones. Unfortunately, someone of the students from the temple managed to announce the attack on a French blog and Ladybug and Chat Noir teleported and fought his akuma in no time. That meant his next akuma had to be armed. His next akuma should also prevent any pictures to be posted on the internet. How to do that? What kind of emotions was he looking for? He sat in the chair and contemplated. He dozed off. He took a cat nap. (And Chat Noir would enjoy so much knowing that.) That meant the man spent the night in an awkward position and a bit stiff in the morning.

The first rays of daylight that broke the night sky launched Gabriel from his chair. He stiffened a bit as he was getting up, but the drive to win this time was pushing him against the pain in his stiffened back and neck. Not that anyone would notice that he was more stiff than usual. It was his usual posture. The moment he got out from the container door, he located the first butterfly on the outer wall of his container The butterfly was sitting still on a nearby white surface below the lamp. Its wings were not moving yet as the butterfly needed the warmth of the sun to initiate its movement. These butterflies were not grown in the basement of the Agreste mansion. With the aid of his height, Gabriel could scoop the butterfly quickly into the jar he brought out. He searched his surroundings and caught a few more butterflies in the jar 'for later'. Satisfied he checked the jar once more before he retreated to the container.

"Nooroo, dark wings rise." Gabriel Agreste transformed into Hawk Moth. The small and packed container interior was not really the kind of environment he was used to working with. He watched Nathalie sleeping and decided to leave her to her rest. He cracked open the small window so the butterfly would have space to go out. Then he concentrated. He had to locate the perfect akuma victim.

One student was awake, breathing heavily, the disappointment was all over her face. The temple was old and untouched by the modern technologies, that was until they arrived. To her delight, the monks were the source of the ancient wisdoms that they offered to share freely and with delight, they told stories about the past and that was what she wanted to hear. But for the two days already, save a few hours in the morning when the monks have told their stories during the morning prayers after breakfast, the days were full of carrying water, washing in the same cold water, eating the same plain meals (but at least then she could experience their peaceful chants and hear a few stories). There were chores to do, so many of them. She absent mindedly played with a knitted friendship bracelet around her wrist and wished to go back in time to the period when being a monk meant enjoying peace and tranquillity (at least that was how she imagined it would have been). A violet butterfly fluttered towards her and entered the bracelet. A violet mask formed on her face.

"Peacemaker, I am Hawk Moth." Hawk Moth introduced himself in the akuma's head. "I give you power to transfer everyone to a time and place of peace and tranquillity. In return, I want you to get me the miraculous stones from the temple." Hawk Moth offered.

"I accept." The student accepted. Her clothes turned into the robes of a Tibetan monk, save they were violet and not red.

Adrien woke up to the sounds of screams from the further end of the large room they slept in. Marinette moved and his first instinct was to wrap his arms around her and protect her. When he opened his eyes, he saw a tall woman dressed in violet shooting rays from her hands at students around her and they disappeared one by one.

"She is making them disappear." Marinette whispered and tried to jump up, but Adrien pulled her down. Just last night they both had the nightmares about the akuma's that made the other disappear. It was as if their minds were anticipating something like this would happen.

"You do not want to get hit by her. Do not expose yourself. Do not draw attention to yourself." Adrien whispered. They both looked frantically to the nearest way out. They both pulled the hoods of their onesies over their heads and crawled in the direction of the nearest exit. Several monks walked inside through the door. They felt guilty. They felt like cowards.

"I am Peacemaker. I will send you to the time of peace and tranquillity. Find me the magical stones hidden in this temple." the akuma announced to the monks.

"We should stay here and fight." Marinette whispered. She could not make herself hide from an akuma that was making other people disappear. Her instincts were telling her to stay and protect. But how should she do that without endangering herself needlessly?

"It is not like you have to hide and transform." Plagg added. They were not supposed to transform in the temple.

"But you can get hit and disappear." Tikki warned.

"We have to lead the akuma to follow us. We have to draw her attention." Marinette protested.

Adrien wanted to say how his Lady will bring them back but one look in Marinette's eyes has told him that would be wrong thing to say at that moment. His Lady was not wearing a mask this time and he could see how worried she has been. Seeing the girl behind the mask made him realize what was the weight of responsibility she carried and how this weight shifted when she had to bring back the victims of the akuma attack.

"Let's stay low and observe." he proposed. It pained him to see the students get hit, one by one. The akuma progressed slowly and appeared in not hurry. The akuma was shooting more rays and every time someone disappeared, both of them winced.

"We should all strive for peace and tranquillity." The akuma shouted. But the eyes of the akuma glowed violet and her face was more distressed.

Marinette observed the akuma carefully. She was more inclined to act than ever.

"A place of peace and tranquillity?" she whispered, got up and narrowed her eyes. Adrien put a cap on his head and a hood and stood up too.

"Marinette" Tikki chirped hidden in the hood of the girl's onesie. "Hawk Moth might see you through the eyes of the akuma."

"I can't just sit down and do nothing." Marinette replied.

"What are you doing?" Adrien asked Marinette as he jumped to his feet. But one look in her determined eyes and he knew exactly what she was about to do.

"Kid, your father could recognize you." Plagg warned from his hiding place in Adrien's hood.

Marinette stood tall and determined.

"You strive for peace and tranquillity?" Marinette asked bravely. Adrien waved his head. Worry and a hint of 'oh no, not again' flashed over his face.

The akuma stopped what she was doing and slowly turned towards Marinette who was walking towards her.

'Oh no. Just what does she thinks she is doing?' Adrien thought as his eyes went wide. 'She will get hit and disappear on me, again.' The memories of Desperada went through his head. Without a word he followed her closely ready to jump in front of her and protect her if she gets hit. He grinned, that was his place, by his lady.

"You should send yourself to the place of peace and tranquillity." Marinette jumped towards the akuma just as the akuma raised her hand towards Marinette. Adrien leaped for both of them.

The akuma fired a shot.

Marinette grabbed the hand of the akuma.

Adrien managed to hold on to Marinette.

All three of them disappeared.

They reappeared in the same temple in the same large room surrounded by confused students, those they remembered were hit by the akuma previously.

"Is this a different dimension?" Adrien asked.

"Or a different time?" Marinette whispered too.

The akuma was confused herself for a moment. A violet mask glowed on her head.

Several confused monks were walking around in the large room studying the people that have just appeared there.

"More students?" one monk looked around. "Good, we have tasks for you."

Several children ran into the large room studying curiously the new faces. They dispersed between the students and tried to ask questions who they were and what were they doing there.

They recognized Dorje as he entered the large room. Adrien and Marinette could see in his eyes that the young man has recognized them as the miracoulous wielders and the akuma but he did not recognize the two of them as persons he knew.

"The three of you can help little Fu over here to bring water to the temple." Dorje ordered Adrien, Marinette and the akuma showing a boy of about twelve. Marinette and Adrien stared at the boy. The boy looked at them with curious eyes, open wide to take in all the information about these new and interesting people. They were dressed in a way that they looked like a black and a red bear in their onesies.

"Master Fu?" Marinette whispered. She thought she recognized the same benevolent curiosity in the eyes of the young boy that she saw so many times in the eyes of the old man.

Adrien nodded. The boy might have been the young Master Fu.

It was good they were sent for water, once out of the temple, Marinette and Adrien could transform and fight the akuma. They both looked at each other, the plan was almost formed without any words exchanged between them.

A violet mask glowed even stronger on the akuma's head.

"It seems that Hawk Moth has not lost the connection." Adrien whispered.

Marinette was worried that whatever they do might change the events in the future. What if they messed up something with Master Fu?

"You are not there to carry water but to bring me the magical jewels." Hawk Moth snarled in akuma's head.

"I am the peacemaker. I am here for peace and tranquillity, not to carry water for you." the akuma shouted at the monk.

Dorje stepped in front of the akuma ready to negotiate.

"Listen, if this is young Master Fu, we could prevent all of this from happening." Marinette whispered. "We could tell him, he would not create Feast and the temple would not get burned and he would not loose the butterfly and the peacock miraculous."

Adrien gulped. They could prevent the existence of Hawk Moth. Would he ever be Chat Noir? Would he ever meet Marinette in that other future? Would she ever be Ladybug? Would he go to school?

"Would not we interfere with historical events like that?" Adrien asked quietly. He grabbed her hand, but his hand could not grab anything. It was semi-transparent. It was as if his hands has turned into a hologram. Adrien started to disappear.

"Yeah, I am not sure which historical events Master Fu was involved in." Marinette whispered as she first noticed a worried expression on his face.

"We would interfere with whatever he did." Adrien whispered.

"I guess we would, but would not that also prevent the existence of Hawk Moth?" she whispered, but then she noticed Adrien's hands were semi-transparent as they started to disappear. Her eyes went wide. The choice was so simple. Yes, she could prevent the existence of Hawk Moth and at the same time, there would be no Adrien. He might have never been born. Her heart was beating painfully in her chest. She reached for him and her hand just went through. She raised her eyes to his. His eyes were warm and green. She saw Plagg looking down from Adrien's hood, hiding below the boys left ear.

"Do what you have to do My Lady." Adrien whispered, his voice sounded as if he was saying goodbye. He understood now what had to be done.

The akuma was arguing with the monk ans she did not want to go and bring water.

"I do not want to bring more water for you." The akuma shouted.

"What is it that you wish for yourself?" the monk asked calmly.

"I want the magical stones you have." the akuma demanded.

"Why do you need the magical stones." the monk continued in the same calm voice.

"I want to give them to Hawk Moth so he can give me what I need." the akuma replied matter of factly.

"And what do you need?" the monk asked calmly.

"I want to finally reach my place of peace and tranquillity." the akuma screamed.

"You have to find that yourself." the monk continued the negotiations.

The violet mask on the face of the akuma glowed with more intensity.

"The peace and tranquillity awaits for you as soon as you get those stones for me." Hawk Moth snarled. "The miracle box might be in the temple containing all the miraculous, go and find it for me."

"You have to find the place of peace and tranquillity within you." the monk spoke but the akuma could not hear him. The voice of the monk could not be stronger than the voice of Hawk Moth in her head.

Marinette stared in Adrien's eyes. Young master Fu stood beside them and stared at them. The boy's eyes glowed as he was looking at their faces. But the two teens were not paying any attention to the boy. They looked at each other and their eyes and their faces showed how many emotions passed between them.

"I love you." she whispered, her eyes were becoming a bit blur.

"I love you." Adrien smiled the most loving and gentle smile. He wanted her to remember him that way. How he loved her. He hoped he would live at least in her memories if not for real. The year they defended akumas together were the only period of his life when he felt really alive. And he was thankful for that. At least, he lived to meet her, to know her, to learn her identity and to travel to the temple together with her. He knew what she had to do. He knew his lady was strong enough to do it.

He watched as Marinette straightened up herself and got ready to speak.


	46. Chapter 46 - That Peaceful place

That peaceful place

Ladybug always knew what was the right thing to do. She knew that there were sacrifices to be made in order to achieve your goal. You had to accept some losses. You had to focus on the goal. You have to think two, three or ten steps in advance (or sometimes backwards as with Backwarder). And she had thought about her following step and what would be the consequences. Ladybug was to make the decision with her head not her heart. But she was Marinette at that moment and her heart ached. She should be stronger than that. She was strong, she was confident, and she was Marinette.

She straightened up herself and got ready to speak. She had to speak and she had to speak in Chinese.

"Give me your miraculous stones." the akuma screamed at the monk. "I want to go to a place of peace and tranquillity."

"You want to go to the place of peace and tranquillity?" Marinette faced the akuma.

Adrien looked at her, astonished, then he looked at his hands and himself. He was becoming slightly less transparent.

Young master Fu looked at him and held out a hand but his hand passed through Adrien's hand. Adrien smiled to the boy and turned away from him to follow Marinette after the akuma.

Marinette made a few steps to close the distance between her and the akuma. Adrien followed as if dazed. Akuma turned towards them. The violet mask at the face of the akuma glowed violet as the akuma was listening to Hawk Moth and could not hear what the monk and Marinette were saying.

"You have to find the place of peace and tranquillity within you." Dorje repeated.

"That place is not here." Marinette whispered as she grabbed the hand of the akuma.

Adrien held out his hand and grabbed Marinette. His hand did not go through. He knew her next move and he knew she needed just a little bit of help with that. He hid his face behind Marinette and whispered her next words. He knew her Chinese was limited.

"Take us to the place where you felt peace and tranquillity." Marinette spoke confidently.

Adrien felt his body disappear again. He could not feel nor touch Marinette although he clearly remembered his hand held onto hers. And he did not remember letting go of her. Everything went blur. The three of them, Adrien, Marinette and Peacemaker disappeared again.

Marinette briefly panicked at the temporary loss of contact.

Dorje smiled and turned to the boy that was to become master Fu.

"Have you seen them?" Dorje asked.

"Yes, they are Ladybug and Chat Noir." Fu answered readily. "I could recognize them. But, why they had no masks on their faces?"

"That was because they were not transformed." Dorje smiled. The monk understood that they were coming from the future as they had no records of such a couple of superheroes from the past.

Marinette, Adrien and the akuma appeared at the settlement of tents that reminded them a lot of the settlement where he got the cheese for Plagg last time.

"This is the place where I felt peaceful the last time." the akuma said solemnly.

"Well it certainly looks very nice, no stress at sight." Adrien perked up. He was back, his body was there, Marinette was there and the akuma was there too. Everybody accounted for. But he was not sure when they were, what was the time, year nor century. Did they come back to the future they arrived from? Which future? He noticed Marinette scanned their surroundings and could not determine for herself.

A violet mask glowed on the akuma's head.

"There are no miraculous stones in there, go back to the temple." Hawk Moth ordered.

Akumatized woman started to slowly and reluctantly walk towards the temple.

Adrien and Marinette took the opportunity to sneak out and hide. There were no people on the path between the akuma and the temple and they had some time to plan their attack.

"Thank you Marinette." Adrien whispered as soon they were out of sight from the akuma. He waved his hand and then he threw himself on Marinette. He wrapped her in a crushing hug. He wanted to feel her to touch her to know that she was there and that he was there and they were both there together, there, wherever and whenever that was. He held her like that for a few moments and Marinette held him back. But they had an akuma to fight and they would have to deal with these feelings later. They loosened the tight hug to be able to look at each other and around.

"I have an idea where we are." Marinette spoke as she glanced around. "But, I have no idea when we are."

"Pigtails, you should have suggested that akuma some Camembert factory, I always find peace and tranquillity there." Plagg noted.

"Plagg" two teens and a kwami laughed.

Plagg quickly floated from Adrien's hood to Marinette's hood and patted her cheek.

"Thank you Pigtails." Plagg whispered. Marinette smiled and tried to look at him which caused her eyes to turn sideways and make a funny face.

Tikki patted Marinette's face from the other side and hid back in her hood.

"Hey Sugarcube." Plagg called. "I really like this Ladybug."

"Thank you Plagg." Marinette and Tikki replied quietly.

Adrien was still holding Marinette and Plagg jumped back to Adrien's hood. They peaked around the tent and watched the akuma walking towards the temple.

"Perhaps we should do something about that akuma." Adrien proposed waving his head in the directions of the akuma.

"We can't create a portal to appear from." Marinette whispered. "If we appear here and now, whenever we are, it might be suspicious."

"Leave that to me, I am the master of improvisation." Adrien smirked the way Chat Noir does.

They sneaked around until they found a place where they could transform unseen, behind a tent and a rock.

"Tikki, spots on." Marinette whispered and transformed into Ladybug.

Adrien watched the transformation with eyes and mouth wide open.

"What are you waiting for?" Ladybug smiled at him.

"I will never get used to this." Adrien smiled. "Plagg, claws out." And Adrien transformed into Chat Noir.

Ladybug waved her head. "You really make a show, do you?" she smiled at Chat.

"I like your performance better." Chat smiled gently.

Ladybug rolled her eyes.

"Chat, we have an akuma to catch." she warned, but instantly noticed her error and covered her mouth with her hand.

"You mean cat-ch?" Chat Noir grinned. He would never miss an opportunity.

"Urgh" Ladybug groaned.

They were running after the akuma and quickly caught up with her.

"Any ideas where the akuma is? I'd go for the bracelet." Chat spike quietly.

"Her clothes are all monk's robes but I would assume she is not a monk but a student and that the akuma is in the bracelet, it is the only other thing on her that I noticed." Ladybug replied.

"Okay, I could cut the bracelet with my claw." Chat Noir proposed wiggling his claws. "But I need some time for my performance."

"Lucky charm!" Ladybug called and got a pair of kitchen mittens. She caught them from the thin air and looked around. She saw Chat and akumas hands.

"I guess this should be straightforward." she shrugged, she gave the mittens to Chat and launched her yoyo.

"Chat, jump behind her." The yoyo wrapped around the akuma's body and her arms so she could not move her hands much. Peacemaker turned around. Chat vaulted and landed just behind the akuma's back. Chat quickly stuck the mittens on the hands of the akuma.

The violet mask on Peacemaker glowed violet.

"Where have those two come from?" Hawk Moth groaned in his temporary lair.

"Hey, purple lady." Chat greeted the akuma.

"I am the Peacemaker. I want for everyone to live in peace and harmony." the akuma yelled waving her hands in mittens slightly as her arms were tied to her body by Ladybug's yoyo.

"We had hard _time_ to cat-ch you." Chat grinned. He put a special emphasis on the word time. "You time travel a lot?"

Chat clawed the robes slightly. "Nope the akuma is not in her robes." he pretended to think what could the akumatized object be.

"You know, Ladybug and I barely have the _time_ for this." Chat Noir pretended to inspect the akuma. "And we would prefer if Hawk Moth gave us some _space_." he stared at the eyes of the akuma.

"Hawk Moth groaned in his lair. Nathalie woke up.

"Have you ever been to Paris? Very nice place. Has akumas too. It is much easier to locate them there." Chat grinned.

Ladybug smiled at his antics.

"Chat hurry up. The portal will not hold on forever." she warned.

"Ah, yes, we have to go back, otherwise we will have to stay here and turn into pumpkins." Chat grinned and cut the bracelet with his claw.

A violet butterfly fluttered out from the bracelet.

Peacemaker turned back to the student wearing thick pyjama.

Hawk Moth groaned again. Nathalie got up and stood in front of him.

Ladybug unwrapped the yoyo from the student. "Enough evil doing for you little akuma." She launched the yoyo after the violet butterfly. "Gotcha!" And released a white butterfly.

"You have been akumatized." Chat Noir explained to the student as he retrieved the mittens from her hands. "You are okay now, please go to the temple." He felt a bit guilty not to transport her there. The student was barefoot and in Paris they often transported akumatized victims to safety. Chat ran over to Ladybug and gave her the mittens.

"Here, let's hope it works all the way." Chat winked. Ladybug sighed. They were not sure in which time they were. Chat took her hand.

"Miraculous Ladybug" Ladybug threw the mittens in the air and a swirl of ladybugs washed over them.

The surroundings have changed a little. Some patches of green grass shifted and the tents were positioned differently and at a slightly different place.

"I guess if she transported us in time then the miracle cure brought us back." Ladybug shrugged.

Ladybug's earrings beeped and Chat knew they had little time.

He extended his baton and vaulted towards the temple but to the side of the cliff on the opposite side from where the army containers were stationed (and the stairs leading to the temple). They barely landed on the bottom of the cliff and away from any curious eyes when Ladybug detransformed into Marinette. That side of the cliff was in the shadow as the early morning sun was on the other side of the cliff.

Marinette caught Tikki in her hands and found one cookie that she kept in the pocket of her onesie. Tikki took it gratefully and hid in the same pocket.

Chat hugged Marinette and started to cry. His body was shaking with sobs. The tears flowed freely down his face and soaked Marinette's onesie on her shoulder.

"Thank you Marinette. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you." he repeated over and over again. He wanted to express his gratitude. She kept him. She decided he was worth it. Someone in this world was considering him worthy of finding a more difficult path to achieve their goals. And that someone was his lady. That someone was Marinette. He cried happy tears and soaked her shoulder.

"It is okay, Chat. You are welcome." Marinette smiled and a few tears reached her eyes too. She stroked his back and his shoulders trying to calm him down.

"You could have got rid of Hawk Moth, and you did not." Chat whispered to her neck. His breath hitched and he hugged her even tighter.

"I needed you to beat that akuma, Chat." Marinette whispered back as she held him back. She needed to feel him there too. She needed to make sure he did not disappear again.

Marinette shifted on her feet. She was wearing only socks and she stood on the cold rocks.

Chat noticed she was shifting her feet and looked down.

"You are cold. I have to bring you back up there." Chat smiled and took her gently in his arms. He extended his baton and they rose up until they reached a narrow path cut into the face of the cliff about half way up.

"Okay, I think this is where we stop." Chat landed on the narrow ledge and retracted his baton.

"You should detransform." Marinette whispered. Chat crouched and hid as well as he could. They were in a shadow, but the transformation light might draw unwanted attention.

"Plagg, claws in." Chat Noir transformed into Adrien. He got up and they walked up the path towards the temple.

"What about that cheese now?" Plagg put his paws on his hips and stared at Adrien. Adrien laughed as he produced a small piece of cheese wrapped in a piece of cloth.

"I have not even used my cataclysm but I am glad to get rid of this from my pocket. You always keep me smelling like cheese." Adrien complained.

"You do not smell like cheese at all. You smell like that lavender oil you spray on everything these days." Plagg groaned. "Even my cheese started to smell like lavender."

"It keeps the bugs away." Marinette noted smiling.

"It did not keep you away." Adrien smiled.

Marinette rolled her eyes.

"Nor Sugarcube." Plagg cut in.

Tikki rolled her eyes.

"Okay, let's sneak back inside." Adrien whispered as they climbed all the way in to the temple.


	47. Chapter 47 - Panda Warriors

Panda Worriors

Adrien and Marinette walked the narrow path over stones and gravel and sneaked up to the temple. They found a hidden and not guarded entrance they have used before and stumbled straight up to Dorje and Pema.

The four of them just stood there and looked at each other. Now the two teens knew that Dorje had seen them before they arrived to the temple. He had seen them appearing in the temple together with an akuma.

"You saw the two of us back then?" Adrien finally asked.

Dorje nodded in confirmation.

"How long ago was it for you?" Adrien pushed for more information.

Dorje sighed. "Few months ago." then he looked at Pema and she continued.

"The students appeared in the temple a few months ago for us but 175 years ago for you. They told us very briefly how they got to the temple. Then the miraculous cure removed them from the temple. The temple burned down and then got restored and we knew to ask the government to send us young students." Pema explained. "We were not certain that you were the part of the package, but we assumed you would get here somehow too."

"And master Fu saw us too." Marinette whispered. "Do you think he had chosen the two of us because he remembered us after all those years?"

"That is possible." Dorje repeated. "He could recognize the two of you as Ladybug and Chat Noir when he saw you in the temple. He even asked why your faces are not covered with masks."

Marinette and Adrien looked at each other and their red and black onesies.

"I guess you really picked up our clothes well this time." Marinette rolled her eyes.

"But you can't say we do not look good in it." Adrien smirked.

"That akuma took a good look at us. I am sure Hawk Moth saw us. He might suspects us too." Marinette put her hands on her hips and stared at Adrien.

"We were dressed up in Chat Noir and Ladybug costumes for the Clara Nightingales video and he did not suspect us." Adrien retorted.

Pema translated to Dorje with her eyebrows raised. They looked at each other confused from time to time. They shrugged and tried to follow the argument to the best of their abilities.

"Yeah, I guess you are right. And you put a show for that akuma." Marinette smiled.

"You can count on me to put up a good show." Adrien smirked, then flexed his muscle (which was particularly funny considering he was wearing fluffy, comfortable and spacious onesie) and finally grinned.

Marinette rolled her eyes.

"Why don't we go to eat some breakfast." Dorje smiled and motioned with his hands for them to start moving.

"I don't like this waiting game. It makes me nervous. He is waiting for us to make an error and we might have made it already, we just do not know." Marinette muttered as they walked down the corridor towards the room where they had their meals and monks chanted their prayers and told their stories.

"Should this cat do some spying again?" Adrien spoke quietly and wiggled his eyebrows.

"I don't know. If he thought we were Chat Noir and Ladybug right away, he would probably tell the akuma to get my earrings and your ring." Marinette bit her lower lip.

"Yes, that means he did not recognize us." Adrien raised his fist in the air. Then he looked at his fist.

"You know, we forgot something." he said looking at his fist and then directed his fist towards Marinette.

Marinette looked at his fist and smiled, she bumped her fist with his.

"Pound it." they said quietly and entered the dining room. All the students sat and ate their breakfast. Most of them were chatting lively and animatedly waved their hands.

"You are okay" Ling and Ye got up from their places, walked over to Adrien and Marinette to check them. "We were worried about you when you did not appear back in the main room like almost everybody else."

"Um, we were outside the temple when we got back." Marinette answered and smiled. That was the truth anyway. She hoped it would be enough.

"The student who got akumatized, is she okay?" Adrien asked Marinette's cousins. They looked at each other in confusion.

"I think she is not here." Ling shrugged looking around.

"Was she supposed to return too?" Ye raised his eyebrows. He was not sure how all these akuma stuff with time travel and disappearances and then restoration even worked.

"Yeah, she was." Adrien replied feeling down. Perhaps he should have brought the akumatized student closer to the temple. But that would bring him uncomfortably close to the army camp. Hawk Moth was there and he would expect a direct attack. Especially since Hawk Moth knew that Ladybug had to detransform and was out in the open.

"Perhaps she is still outside and walking towards the temple? Like we did?" Marinette said to Pema and the monk understood. Dorje and Pema quickly arranged for someone to go out and find the missing student.

They went to get their bowls with food and Tibetan tea and sat down just in time because the guide started to do a head count. Several students mentioned their colleagues who went for a toilet or to wash themselves.

"We know from the others that you travelled back in time. How was it?" Ling asked.

"Not much different." Marinette shrugged and offered a small smile.

"Actually, we were not sure _when_ we were exactly." Adrien winked.

After breakfast they enjoyed more stories from the monks. But many students were checking their phones and the news about the akuma. Even the monks were interested to see the pictures of the akuma attack.

"Alya" Marinette panicked. "I need to check my phone."

"It is well after midnight in Paris, she is probably sleeping."

"She is hardly sleeping if there was a second akuma attack after more than a week of quiet time and she is on school holidays." Marinette waved her head.

"You can go for your phones." Ling whispered and motioned for other students who were getting up and leaving or returning to the large room.

Adrien and Marinette both bolted from the carpet they were sitting on, sneaked out from the large room trying hard (and sometimes failing) not to disturb anyone in the crowded room. Once they got out, they ran for their phones.

Marinette's phone:

Alya: Just to let you know the akuma attack around your temple is trending :)

Alya: I guess you are busy keeping Adrien warm.

Marinette hitched a breath and blushed all the way to her hair. Adrien flicked his eyes towards her and notices how she was almost as red as her suit.

Alya: sorry, your brother ;)

Marinette waved her head and kept on reading.

Alya: ANOTHER akuma attack in the same temple? Is Chloe with you?

Alya: I am getting messages in Chinese. Your sunshine is not responding so I am stuck with internet translate tools.

Alya: I got a few pics submitted but none from you!

Alya: (emoji waving an index finger.)

Alya: I got a pic of two people strongly resembling you and Adrien facing the akuma. Just for you to know. I filter the images that go to my blog and I will not post that one in case someone here recognizes Adrien on it. You owe me big time. It is a great pic.

Alya: you and him in red and black onesies, just like Ladybug and Chat Noir, so cute. And you really look like two teddy bears.

Alya: omg, there is a ten seconds video of the two of you disappearing with the akuma.

Alya: Girl, please let me know you are okay, Ladybug fixed everything and brought you back.

Alya: Call me girl.

Nino: Marinette, please call Alya or me, do not look at the time, okay, just call.

Adrien's phone:

Nino: Hey dude, just to let you know sorry for teasing you and sorry if I made things awkward with Marinette. Greetings to your little sister ;)

Adrien smiled to the phone, but then he hard Marinette hitch a breath. He looked at her lovingly. She was completely red in the face. He guessed Alya was still teasing her.

Nino: Alya called, there is ANOTHER akuma attack there?

Alya: (a number of messages in Chinese that she wants translated)

Nino: have you tried to FIGHT that akuma and it took you somewhere?

Nino: dude, PLEASE let me know you are okay

Nino: call, no matter the hour.

Adrien pressed the call button for Nino while Marinette was not yet finished reading all the messages. He did not put up a video call considering the time in Paris. It was only fair. And he did not want Nino to see his face at that moment. Nino answered during the first ringtone.

"Hey Nino." Adrien greeted.

"Adrien. Dude!" Nino was loud but his voice was revealing how relieved he was. "Is Marinette with you?"

"Yeah." Adrien spoke quietly, he looked at the girl and smiled. "She is here. We are okay."

"Wait, Alya is waiting for a group call." Nino pressed a button that caused a high pitched tone.

"Alya, Adrien called, they are both okay." Nino yelled in the phone even before Alya said anything.

"They are okay?" she breathed in the phone.

"Yes we are okay." Adrien confirmed. "Want to hear from Marinette?" He held out the phone to the said girl and she took it.

"Hi Alya." Marinette greeted timidly.

"Girl, I was so scared for you!" Alya screamed into the phone. Adrien avoided putting his phone on speaker, but he heard every word anyway. "What were you thinking?"

Marinette glared at the phone then she rolled her eyes and looked at Adrien.

"Coming from a girl who chases every akuma? Jealous?" Marinette smirked. Finally something to tease her back.

Adrien grinned. That was his lady.

"Girl!" Alya sounded like a warning. Marinette sighed and rolled her eyes again. Alya could tease her about Adrien again and that would not be good.

"Tell me all about that akuma attack." Alya ordered in place of teasing. She already guessed from messages she got and Ling even wrote her in French but this was information fro someone who got hit.

"Um, it was a student and she made people disappear." Marinette partially stammered her answer. Adrien asked to take the phone back and he would handle Alya.

"Babe, let them be, let them recover, I am sure Marinette's cousins wrote to you all about it." Nino begged his girlfriend to let them be.

"We got dumped in some different time or parallel universe. Then Ladybug and Chat Noir arrived to the scene and won and Ladybug brought us back with her miraculous cure." Adrien smiled at Marinette as he hugged her and pulled her closer while he was talking. The girl blushed and looked at her hands not sure what to do with herself.

"Are you feeling okay, dude?" Nino asked carefully.

"Yeah, it was bad during the fight but now I feel like I am in the clouds." Adrien smiled as he spoke looking at Marinette the whole time. She was Ladybug, he dared to think she was _his_ Ladybug and she decided to keep him.

Nino smiled knowingly. He remembered the video calls with Adrien. Judging by the sound of his voice, the boy was probably hugging Marinette again. Too bad Nino could not take a screenshot of this conversation again.

"Are you okay?" Adrien asked Marinette who was slightly blushed due to his attention. She nodded.

"Yeah, she is okay too."

"Listen, Adrien, I have a really nice photo and a ten second video of you and your _little_ _sister_ over there with the akuma." Alya spoke. Marinette rolled her eyes. Adrien sighed in anticipation what was coming. He did not any photo of him on her blog. "Can I blur your faces and publish it?"

That sounded like a reasonable request. Adrien looked at Marinette and shrugged. She shrugged back and then nodded. He nodded back. Okay, that was resolved very fluently.

"Okay, Alya, but please make sure nobody could recognize us." Adrien begged.

"Don't worry, I do not want you pulled out from school or something." Alya tried to reassure the boy. Adrien thought of so many other things his father might suspect if he recognized him and what he might do.

"Alya, is it really worth that?" Nino asked.

"Don't worry, I have a plan, nobody will think it was the two of them." Alya reassured Nino.

"Okay, it is really late dude." they could hear Nino jaw. "I want to catch some sleep as I have Chris duty in the morning."

They all said their greetings and cut the connection.

Adrien discovered him and Marinette were both tired from the fight and decided to relax there on the sleeping bag for a few minutes before going to change in their normal clothes for the day.

Sometime later, Ling will arrive squealing excitedly and showing them the new post on the Ladyblog titled 'As cute as pandas, Chinese students face the akuma' featuring the photo and the short video.


	48. Chapter 48 - The Water Duty

Water Duty

"Hi maman." Marinette greeted on her phone cheerfully. She genuinely missed her parents. Hearing her mother reassuring voice was enough to cheer her up as tired as she was after the early morning akuma fight and emotionally drained from the decisions that she was making. She had to call her parents and reassure them that she was well.

Adrien sat beside her and typed messages to his bodyguard. He could almost hear him grunt at a few of them. He smiled, he laughed and most of all, he enjoyed the fact that Marinette sat beside him and they exchanged a few glances between them. Adrien noticed Marinette's worried and tired expression. The last akuma fight was emotionally draining. Maybe she had a chance to end it all.

"We are okay. I guess it is the same as in the school back home. Don't worry." Marinette replied to her mother's inquiry. "How is papa?"

Adrien got quite a long reply from his bodyguard at that moment. The man was known to not speak much (let's put it mildly). At least now he wrote extended messages. The boy smiled and typed back. They continued their conversation like that for a while.

Marinette laughed at his side while she listened to her mother talking.

"Okay you can give him the phone if he insists." Marinette smiled and greeted her father. Then she kept silent listening to her father. She blushed and turned away from Adrien. The boy was sure her father was teasing her. His stomach twisted a bit. He remembered Weredad. What is going to happen once they meet again? Should he worry about that at all? It was only an hour ago, he was becoming transparent, erased from the course of history and hoped he would at least live in her memories. He turned his attention back to the phone as he got one more message from his bodyguard. He laughed at it and wrote a short reply. Marinette was saying goodbye to her parents assuring them everything was okay.

"Are your parents worried about the akuma?" Adrien asked curious how her parents reacted. Of course her parents did not know they have a Ladybug for their only daughter.

"Maybe a little, from their point of view, it is the same as if we go to school in Paris." Marinette shrugged.

"At least here we do not go to the toilet so often." Adrien laughed and Marinette joined him.

"Um, listen, my father wants me to tell you about how he got akumatized, to warn you … " Marinette blushed all the way to her hair. She was looking to the side, obviously avoiding his gaze. The fact was, her father wanted to tell the story to Adrien directly, but Marinette did not let him. "that if you do something to hurt me..." she trailed off. She knew she did not have to tell him anything more, he got the message.

"I am really sorry for hurting you back then, for hurting your family, Marinette." Adrien took her hand. "I have refused you for … you and you were right, I preferred the mask back then. But, not any more." She was Marinette, not Ladybug an hour ago when she decided to keep him from disappearing.

Marinette flicked her eyes straight into his.

"I am sorry too. I … panicked. I did not really mean that, I expected you would not do anything but let me down, I never expected you to show up for that lunch." She rambled as her eyes wandered out.

"Why would I do that to you?" Adrien stroked her hand gently.

"Because! Why would you ever look twice at a girl like me if you had eyes for Ladybug?" she turned to him and looked in his eyes. His gaze never left her. He pulled her closer in a side hug. He stroked her arms up and down.

"Because you are you." Adrien wrapped both his arms around her. They both sat there peacefully listened to each other breathing as they took some time to sort out their feelings.

"I can't believe this is us.." Adrien smiled.

"We left Paris for a short school break." Marinette whispered.

"It feels like that was a few years ago." Adrien replied softly.

They sat like that in silence for one more minute until they both decided it was time to change their clothes and go to the bathroom.

"You know." Adrien whispered as they were walking through a narrow and dark corridor that was a shortcut towards the bathroom. "If you told young master Fu and prevented the occurrence of Hawk Moth, the akuma should have disappeared, you did not need me to fight her."

"Don't go there kid." Plagg warned quietly from his hiding place in the pocket.

"Yes, she should have been de-transforming back into the student like you have ..." Marinette trailed off, she could not force herself to say what was needed to finish that sentence.

"But she was not, right?" Adrien wanted to make a conclusion.

"That means that telling Fu would not prevent someone to become Hawk Moth, but you would not … " Marinette looked at him with her eyes wide. "If the akuma disappeared how would I get back? I should not have been there in the first place. This time travel stuff is a mess." Marinette groaned.

"You made your decision, Marinette. It was the right one." Tikki chirped. But Marinette was contemplating.

When they finally changed in normal clothes, they decided not to spend the day inside. The dark interior of the temple and gentle chants of the monks with intermittent story telling was making them sleepy. Fresh air and sunlight should wake them up. They walked out from the temple to enjoy some sunshine on their faces.

"Hey, you two, how about some water duty?" the guide asked offering several water containers.

Each of them was given two and they went down the stairs.

"Is there a cheese duty too? I might volunteer for that." Plagg teased quietly from the pocket.

"Adrien, put on your cap." Marinette whisper shouted as soon as they were out of earshot. "You could be seen down there." Tikki floated out from the pocket on her jacket and enjoyed in the sun. Plagg phased out and sat on the boy's head.

"Hey, I can pretend to be that cap of yours, look." Plagg rolled in his hair. They all laughed. Adrien felt his pockets. He found a cap and the dark glasses that Ling gave him the day before.

"Hey, if you have any more cheese inside those pockets, I would be more than happy to relieve you of that burden." Plagg offered. Adrien snorted and waved his head.

The glasses had few girly pink crystals on the upper part of the frame, but Adrien ignored the fact. He was actually proud to put something on his face that would make his father's blood boil. But then again, his father's blood would probably boil whenever he put his Chat Noir mask on, if he only knew.

"Would you take a photo of me?" Adrien asked offering his phone to Marinette and she laughed at the faces he made as she took more photos.

They reached a small stream just at the bottom of the cliff and positioned their load so that the water flowed in the water containers. They observed the surroundings while they waited for the containers to get filled.

The army camp was nice and regular assembly of the containers. One was perpendicular to the others and in front of it was a flagpole with a Chinese flag on top. Two rows of containers were arranged neatly and supported by stones on corners while there was obviously a hole underneath the middle, it would be possible to hide underneath.

"Do you think your father has any cheese in there?" Plagg teased as he pretended to float away.

"Plagg, stop that, you could be seen." Tikki chirped as she pulled him back to Adrien who put the small black cat in his pocket. Tikki hid in Marinette's jacket.

They paid attention where the lights were distributed around the camp for the night and made a few comments about that. Later they thought of trying to attack while both Hawk Moth and Mayura lounged in their container.

Except they were not there.

They heard footsteps behind their backs and fell completely silent and it was Gabriel with Nathalie, walking around, weather for enjoying the sun outside or checking their surroundings and making a strategy was anybody guess. They were probably doing a little bit of both. Gabriel held his hands on his back as he walked stiffly forward, his head flipped left and right while Natalie strolled on his side.

The two teens concentrated on the water flowing into their last container.

Gabriel looked towards two human beings filling the plastic water containers at a stream for a few seconds before removing his eyes from the total absence of style with disdain. His eyes simply suffered. He understood that these clothes had to be practical, but he knew that did not mean the clothes had to be without any style.

Adrien helped Marinette to take two containers while he took the other two. That was the order from the guide and the girl insisted she could take both. It was not possible to hold on two containers with one hand anyway. They exchanged a few looks and waved their hands slightly to communicate but kept quiet.

They did not speak while Gabriel and Nathalie slowly strolled behind their back. Adrien waved his head and they went towards the stairs and stopped at the bottom for a moment. The two teens exchanged one glance.

Adrien wanted to transform that very moment and attack, strip the butterfly miracoulous off his father and get it over with. He would also find the peacock brooch on Nathalie and take it off.

Plagg scratched his chest.

Wait, would he find where their miraculous were? How much time he needed for that. Their miraculous were never in plain sight. They were hidden. It was also possible they were not even on their bodies at that moment.

Marinette waved her head and they slowly climbed the steps one by one. It was uphill and they carried water. It was physically hard. But their bodies were well trained and they could do that. Carrying the heavy water containers uphill released the accumulated tension.

They climbed like that in silence for some time until finally Adrien decided they got far enough.

"This would have been so much easier in our other form." he whispered.

"Carrying water or evading your father?" she replied between two breaths. The air was thin and she carried about twenty litres of water. Adrien laughed breathlessly.

"I was thinking of transforming and jumping onto them." he admitted.

"Yeah, me too, but Tikki patted me so strongly I gave up." Marinette whispered back.

After half a minute more of climbing, Plagg floated out from Adrien's jacket and soon Tikki followed suit from Marinette's pocket.

"You know, it would be easier for you to carry that if you ate more cheese." Plagg teased.

"Plagg." Adrien groaned. "If I liked your cheese, what would you eat?"

Plagg withdrew from Adrien's face for about half a metre baffled by the boy's response.

"Why were you scratching me so much when father and Nathalie were close?" the boy asked curiously.

"Your heart pounded so strongly, I had to take your mind away from him." Plagg was a bit more serious than usual, and he usually spoke about cheese, and cheese meant food and there was nothing more important than food.

"What do you mean?" Adrien asked incredulously after a few steps.

"The wielders of the butterfly and peacock miraculous can feel negative emotions even when they are not transformed. It is only much less sensitive than when they are transformed." Tikki warned.

"Hawk Moth and Mayura feed on people's emotions, particularly the negative ones." Plagg added.

"Perhaps it was not as bad as it looked. We were agitated by the prospect of carrying the water up the steps when we stopped below them?" Marinette shrugged and looked at Adrien curiously.

"That was probably what they thought." Adrien smirked.

They met Ling and Ye when they climbed back up to the temple and the four of them went for one more round of water. The guide could not believe that those two would prefer carrying water to sitting inside dozing off while the monks chanted. Tikki and Plagg did not appreciate the company so much as they had to hide back into their wielder's jackets. They chatted on the way down, they chatted on their way up and it took them more time, but the government official guide was really pleased with them when they offered to do one more round.


	49. Chapter 49 - Yeti

Yeti

That morning, after the akuma attack, Hawk Moth detransformed in his lair. His anger at another lost battle slowly subsided. He believed he achieved some progress.

"We were actually very close this time. I believe that this akuma went so far back in the past that she could have brought me the full miracle box, including the Chat Noir and Ladybug miraculous." Gabriel connected his hands behind his back.

"You have a new plan, sir?" Nathalie raised her eyebrows as she cautiously asked her boss what was his next idea.

"The plan is the same for now. I have to akumatize someone who will create an army who would search the temple for the miracle stones. But for that I need to akumatize someone who is inclined to create armies and give orders. Nathalie, please arrange a meeting with a local commander." Gabriel smiled wickedly. He is going to make sure himself that the commander will be in proper condition to be akumatized after such a meeting.

"However, I would prefer that Ladybug and Chat Noir have a distraction. Someone to fight aside the akuma." he spoke suggestively.

"You mean a sentimonster?" Nathalie smiled with a corner of her lips. "That can be arranged, sir."

"Good." Gabriel pronounced a rare word of praise and Nathalie lit up (on the inside) with her eyes and a smile that was schooled into something more polite and appropriate for the eyes of Gabriel Agreste. The tension released its grip on her body and she relaxed sufficiently to go about the usual daily routine. (Whatever that would be in the high mountains for two characters such as Gabriel and Nathalie).

Nathalie prepared a full presentation on what was going on in the temple from the information she could collect on the internet while Gabriel busied himself with staring through the window. She briefed him on the information and left him to browse himself while she went to arrange the meeting with the local commander. The man was not available until later so Nathalie proposed they take a walk and check the area themselves.

Gabriel met the commander at noon sharp. He played the man easily. The commander and the solders were not going into the temple to preserve its secrets and privacy of the monks while students easily published photos from the insides on the internet.

The commander assembled a small group of solders. They stomped up the stairs and reached the temple out of breath. Gabriel returned to the container.

"It is time to start with our plan." he announced sternly. Nathalie transformed into Mayura and searched for desperation, but the most she found was boredom. She produced a feather and evilized it.

Gabriel transformed into Hawk Moth and released an evilized butterfly. Both of them fluttered to the temple. Gabriel wanted the commander to become angrier and stronger akuma.

"I demand to check the temple interior." The commander ordered.

"It was agreed that the monks would communicate through students." the guide explained.

"Why can you be inside and not me?" the commander demanded and the government official offered to go through the paperwork together.

Marinette nudged Adrien and directed him towards the argument in front of the temple door. They were just relaxing after they carried water with Ling and Ye. The four of them approached the temple together.

"Perhaps there is some way to let them go inside and see for themselves?" the kids discussed between themselves loud enough to be overheard. 'Stay positive' Marinette cheered quietly. She did not want another akuma in the temple again.

"Actually, the only thing that prevents you from entering the temple is – that there should be no weapons carried on the temple grounds." The government official concluded with raised eyebrows as she studied the paperwork. Even the solders nodded that the condition seemed reasonable.

"But, we are solders, we are expected to be armed." The commander complained meekly. He understood the logic behind the request. "Well, if we leave our arms, we can enter and inspect?"

"I do not see why not?" The government official shrugged.

They quickly made arrangements where the commander and few officers left their weapons with their colleagues and entered the temple.

"Argh, my creation obliterated." Hawk Moth snarled. "Let's see who else we can find." he resigned and then smiled with evil look in his eyes. "Of course."

One government official was studying his book on yeti. He suspected the temple would hold information on many mysteries including the elusive creature that roamed the Himalayas according to the legends. But Yeti was expected in the middle of cold winter, and there they had relatively mild weather for days. A violet butterfly landed on his pen while a violet feather landed on his book.

"Mr. Blizzard, I am Hawk Moth and I give you the power to recreate the cold winter conditions. All I ask in return are the secret magical stones from the temple." Hawk Moth spoke in his head.

"And I am Mayura and I give you power to create the being that roamed these plains in the legends." Mayura spoke in his head. The man agreed.

The book got absorbed in a creature that looked like a tall and hairy human being with wide feet, covered from head to toe in long white hair. It blinked at the solder a few times with its wide blue eyes before it walked away. The creature walked upright and stopped from time to time when it poked on some stones or turned them to see what was hiding below.

The akumatized man himself transformed into Mr Blizzard. His clothes turned all white while his pen extended into a wand. He flicked his wrist and the wand formed a circle. The sky covered in thick grey clouds. He flicked again and dense snow started to fall from the clouds covering the ground quickly. He flicked the wand once more and the snow was carried by a strong wind.

The four teens sat on stones in front of the temple and enjoyed the sun until it disappeared suddenly. When they looked around, the sky was completely covered with the clouds.

"Uh" Adrien groaned.

"Oh." Marinette was fluent in her concern.

"When did this happen?" Ye shouted.

"Where have these clouds come from?" Ling asked incredulously.

"It is an akuma." Marinette and Adrien concluded in unison.

Snowflakes filled the air around them and soon strong wind carried them everywhere, into their eyes and their clothes.

Yeti noticed the snowflakes and the quickly thickening layer of snow that covered the ground and turned happy. He jumped merrily on the snow and practically danced in circles with his arms outstretched, but he produced no noise.

Adrien nudged Marinette to look his way and then he pointed towards the Yeti.

"That must be the akuma." he whispered. Marinette squinted her eyes trying to see the details through the dense snow that was entering her eyes.

Ling and Ye headed for the entrance to the temple and called for Marinette and Adrien to follow. But the two teens were already in the fight mode and stared at Yeti. Ling followed their gaze and soon discovered what they were looking at. She took out her phone and took a photo of the creature. She was sending the photo to Alya with a few strokes of her thumb on the screen without even looking at it, and then she took a few more photos. Ye was filming a short video before he switched off his device and pocketed it.

"What do we do now?" Ye asked. In Paris, everyone would simply run for safety and wait for Ladybug and Chat Noir to resolve any problem. But the behaviour was not yet coded in the local DNA. Marinette looked around and Adrien saw the gears running in her head as her blue eyes scanned the area. They needed to hide and transform.

"Why don't you go inside and warn the others?" Adrien proposed to Marinette's cousins. "We can stay here and see what happens."

Ling and Ye shared a look between themselves. "I guess you know what you are doing." Ye answered and they both went towards the main entrance to the temple. Both were a bit baffled by their younger friends behaviour. They did not notice any fear. So why would they, the older teens be afraid of that creature?

Yeti made a circle with his hand and created a whirlwind of strong wind and snowflakes that was heading towards Marinette and Adrien and the two of them jumped to the side and rolled on the snow. Once they stopped, they stayed low and observed Yeti from a distance. He created another whirlwind that headed their way and they scrambled to get up and run away jumping and rolling away to the other side. Yeti followed them towards the side of the temple with the main entrance.

A few monks and students ran out from the temple and Yeti created a few whirlwinds that went their way.

Adrien saw an opportunity to escape and pull Marinette to safety.

"No, we have to make him follow us away from the temple." Marinette whispered. She was taking the winter gloves from her jacket and zipped it up completely. It became obvious why they had to wear their wet gear over their normal clothes. It was not just in the case they spilled water. Adrien did the same and took the gloves. They had to do this as Adrien and Marinette.

Most of the curious people that got out from the temple to see what was going on retreated inside. Marinette tried to get Yeti's attention in vain when Adrien whistled sharply. The sound spread through the snowy landscape and took everyone's attention. Ling and Ye called to them from the temple entrance and then ran after them. The two students were followed by Dorje and Pema, dressed only in the same robes the monk's wore all the time.

Dorje and Pema dragged Ling and Ye back to the temple and reassured them that they would be going back for Marinette and Adrien.

However, the whistle did it's job and Yeti ran after Adrien and Marinette and the two teens started to run away towards the place where they expected to find the stairs. Except, the stairs were now already buried in deep snow.

They dropped to the ground and crawled their way to the edge. They found the beginning of the steps, and tried to walk down, but the snow was waist deep after only a few steps and there was no way that they could run away quickly like that.

The wind blew so hard it almost threw them off the cliff and Adrien grabbed Marinette and threw them on the ground. Yeti sent another whirlwind in their direction and their crawled away for only a few metres before they had to lay down and wait for the whirlwind to pass over them.

More and more snow accumulated and it became hard to even try to walk in it. Their feet would sink deeper than their knees and they would not feel they reached any solid surface as they moved, their feet simply got stuck in the thick snow. Soon it was not even possible to crawl and they discovered that they could only roll on the surface of the thick snow as then they would not sink too deep and get almost stuck.

Marinette tackled Adrien to the side as another whirlwind went after them. Yeti followed the two of them with occasional distractions when he poked at snow, pulled a branch out and studied it or simply played with the snow.

More snow was falling and the layer accumulated to a few meters at particular places where the wind was slightly weaker. Marinette pointed towards one rock sticking out from the snow at the edge of the cliff and they both climbed it. The layer of snow around it accumulated rapidly.

Yeti looked towards them and sent more whirlwinds that only quickened the snow layer growth rate. They could barely see a few meters in the distance. Snowflakes entered their eyes and they barely kept an eye on where Yeti was going.

Another gust of strong wind almost pulled them of the rock they were clinging onto and threw them down the face of the cliff. Adrien bit his tongue, there were so many puns, so many, just pushing to go out, and yet he schooled himself to be silent. He could reveal his identity if he behaved more like Chat Noir in front of Yeti.

"How do we make them follow us without falling down?" Adrien asked as he looked into the abyss below them, he could not see what was below them save the snow.

"You will have to transform, kid." Plagg warned from his warm and safe hiding spot in Adrien's hood.

"Would Yeti follow us if we jumped?" Marinette asked as she peeked over the ledge only to see nothing but white.

"Do what you have to do, Marinette." Tikki chirped.

Another whirlwind hit them when they were looking over the ledge and neither looked towards Yeti not held to the large rock tightly and the whirlwind threw them off the rock. At the last moment, Adrien pushed himself off the side of the rock and grabbed Marinette's hand. They landed into the thick snow that accumulated on the ledge.

The next thing they heard was a loud scream.

And the snow beneath them gave way and fell down the cliff face in an avalanche.


	50. Chapter 50 - The Avalanche

The Avalanche

Adrien and Marinette heard a loud scream through the wind and the snow. The thick layer of snow beneath them gave way and dropped down the side of the cliff in an avalanche. The thick snow all around them made it difficult to breathe and impossible to see at any distance. Adrien and Marinette held hands as they were falling not too loose each other.

"Plagg, claws out." Adrien squeezed out the air from his lungs. Once he transformed, the enhanced strength should make it easier to breathe. The green light of his transformation was lost to the outside world by the amount of snow in the avalanche. Chat Noir extended his baton as soon as he could grab it from his back. He pointed it towards the ground to slow down their fall.

"Tikki, spots on." Marinette shouted to the snow. Her pink transformation washed over her and Ladybug reached for the yoyo on her back. She launched the yoyo up through the avalanche and towards the edge of the cliff.

Yeti saw the avalanche forming and ran after the snow. He stopped at the cliff edge and looked downwards. As Yeti was not creating more whirlwinds he could see how the avalanche descended down the cliff face in a waave that washed over the rocks and bounced over obstacles. As the first and fastest rolls of the avalanche reached the bottom of the rocky cliff face a small red point emerged from the snow below him. The red point approached him with great speed and the chord wrapped around his body.

Mayura stiffened in her lair. "Yoyo, that has to be Ladybug." she groaned.

Hawk Moth grinned "More snow, Mr Blizzard, make more snow." he encouraged loudly.

Behind Yeti, Mr Blizzard screamed again and waved his wand. More snow started to fall and accumulate on the small plateau on the top of the cliff that hosted the temple.

Chat Noir extended the baton more and more below him and Ladybug until it hit the hard surface. He held on to her and retracted it slowly to slow down their fall. The avalanche passed by them with great speed, snow hit them hard and threatened to yank them off from his staff. Chat Noir held his grip on the staff with one hand while he held Ladybug with the other. She gripped to his hand.

Ladybug felt her yoyo caught something and yanked it. Instead of getting a firm holding point for the yoyo and hanging from it, the chord of the yoyo got loose as that something she caught fell off from the edge of the cliff. But, Ladybug expected it and retracted the chord of her yoyo to keep it tight. She smiled at Chat, her eyes glistened and he smiled back. She was aiming for Yeti and she was successful. She wanted him away from the temple, to be able to fight it while transformed.

"Chat, let go. Look out!" Ladybug screamed but they could not do much. Chat tilted and retracted his baton, Ladybug yanked her yoyo a bit to the side. And that was all they managed to do in the split second time they had.

Yeti landed right on top of the two of them and all three of them fell into the deep snow layer below the cliff face created by the avalanche.

"Scream, create one more avalanche." Hawk Moth encouraged.

Mr. Blizzard screamed again and created one more avalanche to the side that was falling on top of Yeti, Ladybug and Chat Noir burying them in an even deeper layer of snow.

Everything was black. Because her eyes were closed. And she could not breathe. The snow was in her face. She moved her head a bit to create some space to breathe in and then she opened her eyes, it was not so much black as dark grey, but she could still not recognize anything. Her body was in awkward position and she tried to determine which way was up. As the dense layer of snow pressed on her from all sides, that was much harder than one would imagine. A sound resembling a scream could be heard even through the snow layer. Her body wiggled in the snow making sufficient space for her lungs to spread allowing her to breathe fully. The snow was not yet packed, the porous layer allowed for the air to go through. She tried to move her arms and legs, one limb at a time while she kept making space for her head by moving side to side and up and down. Her left arm could move a bit and she felt something, no, someone who she could feel with that hand had moved too.

"Chat" she called to the snow surrounding her face.

But all she could hear back was the rumble of more snow falling onto the pile she was buried making the layer of snow above her thicker and thicker.

Chat Noir held onto Ladybug as fast as he could and as long as he could with one arm while he held onto his baton with the other. But all his efforts were futile when Yeti fell onto both of them. His hand gripped on a body part of someone else, he just hoped that someone was Ladybug. He retracted the baton in his other hand and braced for impact. He was proud that cats always land on their feet (although he often missed to do that in practice, but that must have been that human part of him). Once they stopped falling, he felt the snow pressing on him from all directions. His cat ears got flattened to his head but he still could distinctively hear a scream coming from somewhere high above their heads. The scream was muffled by the snow and it was not possible to determine the direction it came from clearly.

He tried moving his head to make some space and sneezed the snow from his nostrils. He could feel he was still holding onto someone with his hand while he still had his baton in his other hand. He wandered if it would be useful. He moved his arms and legs kicking the snow around him, he moved his body to make space for his lungs to expand. The loud sound of more snow falling onto him almost deafened him but his sensitive ears could detect Ladybug's voice calling his name through the snow. He opened his eyes, he cleared the space just a few centimetres before his eyes and could not see much. Everything was grey and becoming darker as more snow accumulated. The light that entered the snow layer was also reflected within it so the same shade of grey covered his whole view and he could not head for the brighter spot assuming it was up.

Ladybug tried to retract her yoyo, but it was still wrapped up around something, she assumed that something was in fact Yeti. She moved using more of her strength and made a little bit more space for her body in the thick layer of snow. She could not see anything, but now she could feel the gravity pulled her in certain direction and the snow was not pushing onto her from the other side so she assumed she knew which way was up. She had the chord of her yoyo in one hand and she could grab someone's body part with the other, but that body part was moving a lot so she merely followed where the body part was, ready to grab onto it. She could not unwrap her yoyo in her first attempts and contemplated if she should continue trying. It was not certain she could just launch it up through this snow, hook it onto something and pull them up.

Chat moved more and more creating more space and slowly determining which way was down. He could retract his arms closer to his body so he retracted the hand holding the baton. He moved his legs, something was obstructing the path of his right leg but he pushed to make more space. He extended the baton and it went through the snow layer below him. It extended slowly until he reached a firm surface again. He hoped that was ground. He grabbed the hand or leg whatever he could hold with his other hand and extended the baton further, pushing himself upward through the thick layer of snow. The snow has not settled yet so it was still possible to slowly progress trough it.

Ladybug felt sudden movement and grabbed that moving body part next to her left hand. She felt the object wrapped in her yoyo chord moved too and she held on to the chord. She held on and was pulled up through the snow layer.

Chat closed his eyes while he pushed himself up, first slowly, but then it was possible to go faster and faster. He opened his eyes as soon he recognized an increase in brightness and no pressure on his shoulders, the baton extended further pushing him all the way up. Finally his hand was out from the snow and he looked down to see who he dragged out.

He expected to see an elegant hand or leg in a red suit with black spots.

He saw a hairy limb. Long white hairs covered it completely.

He pulled himself all the way up looking down at Yeti only to discover a second surprise.

An elegant hand dressed in red with black spots held onto his leg. He smiled.

Yeti glared at him with his blue eyes.

Chat grinned.

He extended the baton further so that Ladybug would be all the way up.

He noticed Yeti was still wrapped up in the chord and could not really fight nor produce whirlwinds by waving his arms.

Finally, Ladybug emerged from the snow layer, holding Chat with one hand ad hanging from Yeti on the chord of her yoyo.

They heard another scream, but this time the sounds were not muffled with snow.

"I am Mr Blizzard." the voice screamed.

Another bulk of snow fell off from the top of the cliff, fortunately for the heroes, not directly above them. It piled up to the side of the cliff away from them, but some snow dust still reached them, hit their faces and entered their noses making it hard to breathe again.

Chat Noir looked into Ladybug's eyes and she looked back. They were both confused. They turned to look at Yeti, as Chat held onto him with one hand while Ladybug hung from Yeti on her yoyo. Then they looked back at each other.

Yeti looked dazed and confused, switching his gaze from Ladybug to Chat Noir and back.

"Ladybug and Chat Noir are here, they appeared in the snow together with Yeti." Nathalie spoke.

Ladybug mouthed "sentimonster" to Chat Noir and waved towards Yeti with her head. He nodded. "Akuma." Chat Noir mouthed and waved his head upwards. Ladybug nodded.

Okay, so now they both knew what they were dealing with, not than they were particularly happy about it.

They both studied Yeti, they looked at the hairy humanoid biped from all angles they could as they wiggled and moved around. They tried to determine where the amok could be hidden.

Chat Noir swung them and let go of Yeti so Ladybug and Yeti fell on top of the snow layer and rolled down the slope. He quickly retracted his baton and rolled after them.

Ladybug kept Yeti wrapped up in her yoyo and tried to find if there was any object on Yeti that could host amok. The only thing that looked like a possible hiding spot for amok was an odd hard rectangular object slightly sticking from Yeti's back that could hardly be noticed due to thick white hair of the creature.

"Where is my Yeti?" Akuma screamed on the top of the cliff.

"Your Yeti is busy with Ladybug and Chat Noir." Hawk Moth snarled in his lair. "You were supposed to look for the magical stones in the temple, not to look for your pet!"

"I want my Yeti." the akuma screamed.

"You can have your Yeti if you go and get me Ladybug and Chat Noir miraculous." Hawk Moth shouted.

Without a further word, the akuma shouted again and caused another avalanche, this time the snow under his feet let go and he fell down the face of the cliff carried by the stream of snow.


	51. Chapter 51 - Mr Blizzard

Mr Blizzard

Ladybug rolled down the small hill of snow. She rolled along with Yeti tangled up in the chord of her yoyo and observed the creature carefully. She suspected a rectangular hump that hid in the long and thick white hair on his back was the object that hosted amok.

Yeti tried to set himself free, he wiggled, pushed and spread his arms, he grabbed onto the chord and the yoyo unwrapped setting him free.

"Chat, I think the amok is the object hidden in the hair on his back." Ladybug yelled as Yeti caught her off his back, threw and tossed her away from him. Then he waved his hands and launched a whirlwind after her.

Chat jumped after Yeti and stretched out his arms and spread his clawed fingers. He aimed to claw Yeti's back if the object was there. He considered using cataclysm, but only in the second attempt. However, Yeti turned just in the last moment and produced one more whirlwind that changed Chat's trajectory and the hero missed the sentimonster completely. Chat landed in the snow face first. He quickly raised his head and spit some snow out from his mouth as he dug himself out looking around for his lady.

Ladybug was rolling and running away from two whirlwinds, she barely escaped the one that Yeti sent after her when another, the one sent after Chat caught her. She really missed the tall buildings of Paris, her yoyo did not have many things to hold onto on the Tibetan plateau, save the trees and a few rocks, the nearest pile of rocks that composed the cliff was preoccupied by hosting the avalanches down its side and there were no trees nearby to help her. She tried rotating her yoyo against the whirlwind but it backfired. Once the yoyo hit the whirlwind, it flicked back and hit her onto her head.

"Ouch" she screamed as she held a hand on her head and rolled away from the whirlwind.

"Here, Ladybug." Chat shouted as he extended his baton. She wrapped her yoyo on the tip of his baton and he yanked her away from the danger.

And into another one.

Because she landed on the pile of snow behind him.

Just when another massive avalanche started falling from the top of the cliff.

Chat quickly yanked her again and this time she landed straight on top of him.

"You did this on purpose." Ladybug groaned.

Chat grinned.

Then she blushed because she remembered that he was Adrien.

Chat nudged her out from her self-conscious mood.

She shook her head.

It was not the time for such thoughts.

"Let's get away and not get buried again." Chat proposed as he took Ladybug around her waist and extended his baton raising them above the snow wave that swept everything in its path. It was just the last moment to do so. Ladybug launched her yoyo and caught Yeti again to remove him from the way of the avalanche.

"You are saving Yeti? So cute." Chat teased.

"It might be hard to find him if he gets buried in the snow." Ladybug retorted.

"You know, perhaps Yeti could dig himself out from the avalanche." Chat teased a bit more.

"I haven't noticed this one dug himself up just moments ago?" Ladybug swiftly dropped Yeti further away, hopefully at a safe distance. But she did not unwrap her yoyo as she wanted to keep him still.

"Nope, that was me and my staff." Chat Noir winked.

Yeti pushed and pulled at the chord until the sentmonster was free again.

"Go for them." Mayura ordered in her lair. "Get me their miraculous."

Ladybug had her yoyo back in her hands, but Yeti was free to attack and launch a whirlwind back at the two superheroes who held to Chat's staff high above the first wave of the avalanche that rolled underneath their feet.

The massive avalanche hit the bottom of the cliff and the snow particles filled the air, the air filled with snow flowed beneath them. The whirlwind and the dust of icicles from the avalanche mixed up and created a mixture that was hard to breathe in while the staff tilted to the side.

When the snow particles started settling, a figure dug itself out from the large pile of snow.

"I am Mr Blizzard. Give me your miraculous." the akuma yelled.

"Aw, Ladybug, doesn't this make you homesick?" Chat Noir cooed.

Ladybug rolled her eyes.

"That is not something that could make me homesick." she groaned. "But then again, missing buildings, especially the towers and other high leverage points definitely do make me wish we were fighting this akuma in Paris."

"Yeah, I get it, not to mention the snow." Chat Noir added as they watched the akuma on one side and the sentimonster on the other. "Schools could have a snow day and the kids would play outside and ..." Ladybug rolled her eyes. "Not now, Chat."

The remains of the avalanche were settling underneath when the akuma pointed his wand towards the two superheroes and shot a lightning bolt. They both released the staff. The bolt of lightning hit the staff while Chat Noir and Ladybug fell onto the thick layer of snow and got partially buried in it.

"I guess the akuma is in the wand." Ladybug groaned as she was digging herself out from the snow.

"Give me your miraculous." they could hear Mr Blizzard demanded on one side. They could see Yeti wave his arms to create another whirlwind and set it towards them.

"How about a little luck My Lady?" Chat Noir suggested.

Ladybug quickly looked around.

"Lucky Charm" She threw her yoyo in the air and got a long string with Christmas lights.

Ladybug stared at the string.

"Well, we have the snow, all we need is a tree and we even have some guests." Chat motioned for Yeti and Mr Blizzard.

Ladybug rolled her eyes and looked around just in time to tackle Chat Noir from his feet as another light bolt hit over her head.

"Okay, listen" Ladybug whispered as she untangled the Christmas light string, "Cut it here, please." she asked and Chat cut it with his claw. Then she quickly tangled the wire around her wrists and head letting one end reach the ground and helped Chat do the same. "Okay now, we have them where we want them, more or less, we might want them a little closer." Ladybug explained further while Chat Vaulted both of them using his baton away from another attack of whirlwind.

While they were in the air Mr Blizzard attacked with one more lightning bolt and they had to drop back to the ground.

"This is not good, we are their targets and we need to be there." Ladybug pointed to a position. Chat noir vaulted them exactly at the spot Ladybug showed him.

Yeti created another whirlwind.

Ladybug launched her yoyo at Yeti.

Mr Blizzard was walking towards them and launched a lightning and it hit the two heroes but the electricity flowed down the wires leaving the two superheroes unharmed.

The yoyo wrapped around one of Yeti's arms and she pulled strongly.

Chat Noir extended his baton.

Mr Blizzard made a few more steps closer before he shot another lightning.

"Duck" they both whispered in unison and got to the ground.

Ladybug yanked the chord of her yoyo.

The lightning passed over them and hit Yeti straight in the back.

A violet feather floated out of Yeti's back while Yeti disintegrated and a book fell to the snow.

"No." Mayura and Hawk Moth screamed in unison. Mayura detransformed.

Ladybug launched her yoyo again and purified the violet feather.

During the time Ladybug dealt with the feather Chat vaulted straight onto Mr Blizzard.

Ladybug prayed for the wire to keep him safe from the lightning attacks.

Mr Blizzard managed to shoot one more lightning that hit Chat straight on but the wire from the Christmas lights and his baton took the electricity to the ground.

Mr Blizzard produced more snow and strong wind waving his wand. The snowflakes were so thick Chat could barely see where he was going to fall.

As Chat fell onto Mr Blizzard, the akuma could not wave his wand in circles any more and the storm that kept him hidden subsided.

Chat grabbed the wand and snapped it in two.

A violet butterfly flew out from the wand and Ladybug caught it with her yoyo and purified it.

"You came here and ruined my plans again, Ladybug. But one of these days I am going to beat you." Hawk Moth snarled in his lair.

Mr Blizzard transformed back to the official he was before. His appearance changed as he was wearing his usual clothes and the violet mask disappeared from his face. The man was confused and looked around in awe. Everything was covered in snow while the last thing he remembered was him complaining to himself about the sunny weather.

Chat quickly patted his shoulder and offered a comforting smile.

Ladybug earrings beeped a warning. It was the only sound in the quiet surrounding of the snow covered landscape.

She held the book in her hands. It had a picture of Yeti on the front page, but the text was in Chinese.

"Ladybug, we have to go." Chat warned as he ran over to her.

Ladybug threw the book towards the previously akumatized man and he caught it automatically with a confused expression on his face.

Then he looked around and noticed a trail of footsteps in the snow. These were not the kind of footsteps a human would leave. They were slightly longer and much wider than from a normal human foot. The man checked his pockets to find his phone and take a photo of the footsteps.

"We have to explain them what is going on." Ladybug whispered to Chat Noir as he was already standing next to her.

"Let's go and find a place to detransform." Chat Noir whispered as he scooped Ladybug and extended his baton.

Ladybug smiled to him. Things have changed after the reveal. Before, she would have launched her yoyo and went up by herself to find her own place to de-transform. Chat Noir knew that very well and enjoyed the opportunity to hold her close after the battle.

He detected a place between the rocks where they could both hide. Chat Noir unwrapped the wire from him and Ladybug unwrapped herself.

"Okay, now, I think it is time." Chat whispered gently as he gave her the wires.

"Miracoulous Ladybug" she called and threw the wires in the air. A swirl of Ladybugs was washing over the landscape removing all the snow while Chat Noir and Ladybug detransformed back into Adrien and Marinette.

Adrien caught Plagg in his hands.

"Do you know how many more calories I need if I am working on an expedition in such winter conditions?" Plagg demanded his cheese, as usual. Adrien produced a piece of cheese and Plagg swallowed it in one bite.

Marinette caught Tikki nuzzled her cheek and gave her a cookie. Tikki thanked Marinette and sat on the girl's shoulder.

Adrien offered his clenched fist and Marinette bumped it with her own.

"Pound it!" they said in unison.

And then they looked around.

"We are not on any kind of path. We have to climb the rocks to reach the temple." Marinette was exasperated. They were supposed to do that as civilians.

Adrien smirked at her and stretched.

"Well then, it is a good thing one of us has a climbing wall in his room." he leaned in and grinned.

She bopped his nose. She wanted to tease him about being a rich kid and having a father who would buy him anything but that would only remind the boy that his father was Hawk Moth and she did not want to bring Adrien down. She liked when he was happy. And right then, he was smiling.


	52. Chapter 52 - Climbing Rocks

Climbing Rocks

After Ladybug launched her Miraculous cure that cleared all the snow, and they both detransformed and gave some food to their kwami, it became clear to both of them they were not entirely out of trouble yet.

"You can do this Marinette." Tikki chirped. The little red goddess of creation sat on the girl's shoulder and munched on the cookie. The girl stared at the rock hovering above her. With her yoyo, she would fling it up, find leverage and jump. She looked at her hands as she removed the gloves. Then she looked to the other side and took the two steps to the ledge and the long fall below her. She was used to heights and did not feel dizzy but it was a long way down and she shivered.

"I can't possibly climb this on a full stomach." Plagg teased after he gulped his cheese and plumped on Adrien's shoulder pretending to fall asleep instantly.

Adrien ignored his kwami and studied the possible way out of the hole they got themselves into. They were in an indent, below an overhanging rock. It was excellent choice while they were searching for a place to hide and detransform. It was possibly the worst choice to climb out from without any safety gear. He took off his gloves. He will need his fingers for this. He tried to find leverage and climb but got only about a meter higher than he was before he realized he could not find anything to hold onto. The rock was overhanging and his feet were dangling in the air. Finally, he gave up his first attempt, he let go of the rock with his hands and dropped to the rock below.

Marinette watched him climb, give up and fall down.

When Adrien landed on the rock below just beside Marinette, Plagg fell off his shoulder and floated back up into the air.

"Hey" the little black cat like god of destruction yelled. "You! Mister I have a climbing wall in my room!" Plagg demanded attention from his chosen. "What was that?"

Tikki giggled. Marinette first grabbed Adrien and pushed him further from the ledge, scared that he might fall all the way down the cliff face. That way she yanked the boy from underneath Plagg who left hovering in the thin air.

Adrien fell straight on his but and stared at Marinette.

"What was that?" he inquired with his face twisted because falling on your but and hitting a hard rock was painful.

"Um sorry." Marinette widened her eyes in horror. She had hurt him. She hurt Adrien Agreste. He survived all those battles as Chat Noir. He even confronted a few akumas as Adrien. And now she saw a pained expression on his face. She flailed her hands and took a step back. "You were falling and I mean I was … acting on instinct?"

She looked like she could fall back, she was known to loose balance in front of Adrien for no apparent reason, and merely one metre behind her was a deep fall down the cliff. So, without thinking, Adrien bolted, still in pain from his fall, grabbed her hand and pulled them both back. This time he controlled his fall and did not get hurt. Marinette landed straight on him (because he directed her fall there)

"This time I acted on instinct." Adrien smirked at her. She was rather red in the face before and now she was completely flushed all the way to her hair. And he did not let go of her. He was having too much fun.

'No, Marinette, No! This is Chat. Or better, this is Adrien that considers you his teddy bear. Do not panic. Nothing is happening.' she mentally brought herself out from her flustered state back to the game.

"We should start climbing? Maybe?" she offered after a long pause in which she gained her composure and started breathing.

"Yeah." Adrien replied and sounded a bit disappointed. He was surprised by his own tone. Was he disappointed? What did he expect anyway? He started getting up without letting go of her.

Marinette pointed to a small passage to the side of the rock above their heads. It was narrow. It was very steep. But there was no overhang. So they tried to go that way.

Adrien offered to go first, finding the leverage for each limb easily and climbed all the way up to the top of the rock, which was about five meters, almost the height of the climbing rock wall in his room. Then he stopped and looked down.

Marinette memorized his every step. Each point where he put his feet, which hand went where and where his feet went. She memorized the way he climbed with practised ease. She memorized every move Adrien Agreste made practically since the day she met him. This was no different.

But then she tried to replicate his moves, and the problem was obvious. He was not substantially taller than her. It was not as if she was a dwarf in his presence, but he was taller and the particular trail they took really showed the difference.

She put her right foot where his right foot had been. She stuck her left foot in the same hole. She grabbed the same jagged end of the cliff with her right hand and when she wanted to reach that small dent Adrien used with her left hand. She could not. She stretched and stretched and in the end, she jumped. She took hold on the dent with her left hand, but all other three of her limbs lost their leverage and she remained hanging. It took merely a second, but she stuck her left foot in the same hole and then she felt for the jagged dent with her right hand.

Then it was time to fish for that other hole with her right foot, and this one was rather high. Perhaps a little bit too high for someone her height, but she refused to give in and used it. She stuck her right foot into it and felt it stable, but her knee was pushing into her neck.

Okay, so now she had to hold on with her left hand and push up with her right leg (with her right nee in her neck) while letting go with her right hand and left foot simultaneously. And she did. When she straightened herself up, she discovered that her right hand can not possibly reach the next point of leverage Adrien used. It was just too high. To her desperation she could see it clearly. On the other hand (or foot in this case) she could not see the place for her left foot nor feel it through her hiking boot. She tried to find leverage by scrapping her foot on the rock, but there was nothing. She sighed.

Adrien could clearly see Marinette was in trouble. She followed what he did and was about half way through. But she really could not reach the next point. He already stiffened when he saw her jump for her previous move and was scared she would try something like that again. He wanted to climb down and help, but was puzzled how could that help her. So he looked hard to find a way to direct her. He could not see her feet but he could see another small dent that she could reach with her hand.

"Okay, go 25 centimetres to the left with that hand." Marinette did what she was instructed. "No, my left, sorry." he smiled sheepishly. She felt another jagged point to hold on to. Then she pulled herself up using her hands with slight help of her left foot. She still had to find something to put any of her feet. In the end, she put her right foot on the same point where her right hand was because she could find the next point to hold on to with her right hand and then she pulled herself up some more.

After that she was finding her own way. The whole climbing took merely a few minutes, but when she reached Adrien, it felt like hours.

"Where is jagged stone when you need one?" Marinette sighed the moment she reached him and he burst into laughter.

"Okay, it gets substantially easier from here." Adrien smiled. They could already see one corner of the temple above them and they could easily scale the rocks.

They trekked and partially climbed their way, Adrien let her take the lead and even helped to scale one shortcut.

"How is Jagged Stone these days?" Adrien smirked. He remembered how Marinette designed his album cover and he wanted her autograph on it.

"Uncle Jagged? He is fine I guess. I have not heard of him for some time now, he went on tour, you know." Marinette shrugged.

"Uncle Jagged" Adrien whispered. This girl over here called the most famous rock star in the world 'uncle'. "It sounds so cool when you call him that." Adrien winked. Marinette blushed again and swayed on her feet. Adrien took her hand to steady her (and just to hold her hand a bit too).

Marinette let Tikki go into her pocket and promised more cookies when they reached her backpack.

"Hey, kid." Plagg called. "If you are so slow because of the immense load of cheese you carry, I am willing to help you with that."

"Wasn't your stomach so full you could not possibly climb?" Adrien retorted.

Marinette laughed. Tikki jumped out from the pocket.

"Just let them be, okay?" the little red goddess put her arms on her hips and glared at Plagg with her blue eyes.

They climbed for a few more minutes talking about Jagged Stone songs when they finally reached a level where they could be seen form the small plateau on top of the cliff on which the temple was built.

"Hey, you are okay." Ling called as soon as she noticed them scaling up the rocks. She quickly went their way to meet them.

Ye turned around from where he was looking for the two of them and soon beaten Ling reaching the two teens first.

"Ling was so worried." Ye said breathlessly, his whole composure showed that he was even more worried but decided not to admit to that.

"Yeah, we thought you fell down the cliff." Ling added waving her head. "That government guide, she is crazy with worry for the two of you, she was really relieved when there were no bodies found at the bottom of the cliff." She spoke quickly.

Adrien and Marinette looked at each other with confusion on their faces. People were always worried after the akuma attacks, but everyone in Paris was already used to that everything got restored after the fight.

"Even the monks were looking for you." Ye added more calmly.

"Okay, you should know that Ladybug restores everything after an attack." Adrien smiled to calm them down.

Marinette felt cold sweat on her back, these words were not making her feel less weight from her responsibilities.

"That does not mean you should endanger yourself." Marinette cut him.

"That Yeti guy was really nasty." Ye added.

"That was probably a sentimomnster." Adrien feigned he was not sure.

"The screaming one was worse for me." Ling added.

"That one was an akuma." Marinette confirmed with more confidence, but Adrien nudged her.

"You know, you could give us lessons. You have so much more experience from Paris." Ling proposed.

Marinette and Adrien froze as they looked at each other. Yeah, Ling and Ye as well as the rest of the students should learn how to recognize an akuma attack, a sentimonster or even Hawk Moth and Mayura themselves. On the other had, the two superheroes would prefer not to out themselves in any way.

"Erm" Adrien voiced.

"uh " Marinette fluently added.

"You know, we should not admit to that we know about akumas from Paris. Remember when we filled in those application forms?" Adrien nervously warned.

"We are supposed to be Chinese" Marinette reminded them.

"We are not big experts in avoiding akuma attacks." Adrien admitted, _at least about what to do as civilians_.

"I could not possibly give a talk in Chinese." Marinette shrugged.

"We could translate." Ling offered.

"Yeah you could do that all the way, you already know the basics." Marinette encouraged.

"yeah, we could not possibly make good teachers" Adrien nodded. "It is not like we know much about hiding away from akumas and sentimonsters" (well as civilians at least he thought.)

"We even could not tell these two today instantly." Marinette chipped in.

"But you could recommend someone. " Ye asked.

"They could make us that web talk" Ling patted her chin with her index finger.

"We could ask questions" Ye perked in.

"Someone who was in many akuma attacks" Ling pondered.

"Someone with experience" Ye chipped in again.

"Doesn't need to speak Chinese." Ling encouraged.

"We would translate." Ye continued.

What were they to do? Whom to ask to do the necessary lecture. They already agreed it was needed. They could and would not do it themselves, it was too risky to draw too much attention to themselves. The answer hovered above their heads. There was a certain blogger who had all the information needed (and even more information that was not needed) meticulously organized on her blog. If only they could make her focus on the akuma and safety and not on the identity stuff.

"Alya" Adrien and Marinette replied in unison.


	53. Chapter 53 -The Teaching of Alya Cesaire

The Teachings of Alya Cesaire

Ling and Ye wanted to organize a crash course on akuma attacks for the students and anyone interested in the temple. Adrien Marinette agree but do not want to do that themselves. The solution is rather obvious.

"Alya could give you a crash course." Adrien wiggled his eyebrows. "If you are ready to translate." He would not offer his services this time, he did not want to draw too much attention on himself.

"I am not sure she is the right choice." Marinette pondered giving Adrien a pointed look that he missed.

"Why" the cousins asked in unison.

"She sort of, tends, to run after akuma, and into danger?" Marinette spoke each word carefully.

"Um, yes, she does." Adrien rubbed the back of his neck.

"On the other hand, she is the ultimate expert." Marinette looked at Adrien. He knew after the Miracle Queen who were Rena Rouge and other temporary wielders.

"We could ask her?" Ye proposed timidly.

"We should definitely ask her." Ling concluded with determination.

"You do not plan to chase after akumas, don't you?" Marinette inquired. She could not believe this, were her cousins to replace Alya? Nope. Not good.

"No, we do not." Ling answered looking down. "We really just want to know more." It was not ust the dread of danger. There was this new and fascinating phenomenon to hear about.

Once they reached the temple, Marinette looked for her phone, and found a load of unanswered messages. She typed a few responses when Adrien already placed a video call to Nino. She was still typing the last message to her parents when Adrien wrapped one arm around her and placed his phone in front of them. Was the boy even able to place a phone call without doing that?

"Hi Adrien, Marinette." Nino greeted. He noticed how Adrien behaved and that Marinette was busy with something.

"Hi Nino" they both greeted.

"You two looking good." Nino raised his thumb up.

"As always." Adrien grinned.

"Dude, your hair is a mess and your face is much darker and you look so different." Nino smirked. His friend looked much less polished and much more happy. Adrien looked free.

"And what is Marinette doing over there?" Nino asked.

"I was just replying to Alya." Marinette added.

"Well, now you don't have to." Nino winked as he walked over to Alya. They were outside, Alya sat on a bench. "She is right here, busy with her blog, you know, as usual."

He turned the phone to show Alya typing furiously on her phone. Then he turned the phone back and shrugged.

"You know, I prefer these akumas, I do not have to follow her while she cases them around." Nino pushed his face really close to the phone and whispered conspirationaly.

"I get it." Marinette smiled back. Adrien nodded in agreement.

"So, tell me, how are you two doing over there?" Nino asked while he had the chance, he expected the subject to switch to the akuma instantly once they got the attention of the Ladyblogger.

"We are fine." Marinette smiled.

"Good. Fine. Excellent." Adrien smirked while he glanced towards Marinette.

Nino watched the scene on his phone. "Dude" he smiled. Nino could not believe his friends. He waved his head.

"What" Adrien asked.

Nino looked at the phone and contemplated what he could possibly say without making the things awkward. "Nothing, I just miss you I guess." Nino shrugged. What else could he tell them. 'You two look like the cutest couple' did not seem appropriate at the moment and it was probably too early to tell. Not safe. Alya might kill him. A slow and excruciating death, not a fast one.

"Hey babe, I have some surprise over here." Nino tried to get the attention of his girlfriend once more.

"Oh, hi Adrien, Marinette." Alya screamed the last word as she studied the was her two friends looked in the screen. "How are my favourite siblings? I guess you are not homesick with all those akuma around?"

"Dude, Alya told me. You really have some busy times over there." Nino winked.

"A screamer and a Yeti?" she asked rather loudly.

"Calm down babe, people are watching." Nino looked around the park.

"Yeah, we actually did not see much, perhaps you should talk to Ling and Ye over there. They have a proposal for you." Adrien noted giving his phone to Ling who took it with her trembling hands. He was not in the mood for avoiding retelling the battle if he could easily pass the task to more eager hands.

The two soon agreed that Alya will give a short talk with photos and short videos from her blog. She already had the material ready so they will do it 'soon'.

The moment Adrien gave his phone away, him and Marinette were consumed in a totally different conversation. A short study government official guide stared at them with her hands on her hips.

"You two will put me in an early grave." the guide stared at them. "Where were you?"

Adrien winced, Marinette stiffened. Okay, it was time to invent excuses. And they had a whole arsenal of excuses that already worked on Ms Buster. Let's see ...

"We were in the snow." Adrien started. Marinette nodded then signalled to her clothes. "But properly dressed." Adrien nodded to stress he perfectly understood the importance of being properly dressed in the snow. (After all, he was taught the importance of being properly dressed for every occasion from an early age.) Marinette patted her arm again. Adrien furrowed his eyebrows.

"We were climbing back." she told him with raised eyebrows. Okay, perhaps the mind reading did not work perfectly for this purpose.

"Ah yes, it took us some time to climb back to the temple." Adrien shrugged.

"Why have you ran away in the first place?" the guide insisted.

The two teens looked at each other a bit surprised by the question.

"You are supposed to run away from an akuma." Adrien explained patiently.

Marinette whispered to him what to say next.

"We thought the akuma will go into the temple so we ran away." Adrien smiled. It was a great excuse. At least he thought so.

There was a moment of silence. The guide contemplated for a while observing the two teens carefully. Finally, she took a deep breath.

"So you run away, not fight them?" The guide raised her eyebrows.

"Okay." Marinette dragged the word how was she supposed to phrase this. Yes she was fighting them because she was a superhero, but ssh, it was a secret (although a questionable number of monks knew it and they might get akumatized and it sent shivers down her spine).

"Ladybug and Chat Noir fight them. Civilians flee." Adrien kept the explanation as simple as possible.

"Who are Ladybug and Chat Noir? What are those akuma things?" the guide crossed her arms.

Adrien and Marinette barely suppressed an obvious sigh of relief. They looked at each other and smiled.

"Well, actually, there is an expert on the phone over there. Perhaps she could explain that to you better." Adrien proposed motioning for the guide to join Ling.

Both teens humped with relief when the guide got engaged in the conversation and agreed to organize a small presentation session.

Less than a half an hour later, they were in the dining room, someone produced a miniature projector and someone else small speakers that could be stuck in the phone. Alya spoke animatedly and stopped after each sentence waiting for Ling to signal she was finished with translation.

"First of all, Ladybug and Chat Noir react to warnings. Thank you for sharing information on the Ladyblog." she could never resist the urge to advertise her own blog and this was a perfect opportunity. Ling proudly announced how she personally sent messages to the blog that triggered warnings.

"My blog is a vital source of information on the past akumas and I often livestream the events." Alya smiled smugly. The students mostly nodded in approval.

After the initial explanations Alya showed a few pictures and videos. These were supposed to be educational, but the videos were actually the most thrilling sequence Alya managed to film while chasing akumas and sentimonsters.

"Is she serious?" The guide bulged her eyes out.

"The important thing is to hide from an akuma. Otherwise, if you get hit, you can become a minion and superheroes will have to fight you." Alya explained.

This advice was followed by a video where Alya is clearly chasing after the akuma.

"Aren't you running after that akuma instead of hiding here?" Ling asked the first question.

"Um, I am a reporter and … well just do what I say not what I do." Alya conceded.

But then, there was an avalanche of questions and remarks.

"But if I submit a picture on your blog, is not that a warning?" Ling asked confused.

"Yes, but you can also text." Alya grinned. As if that made a serious difference. In her case the answer was no.

"Keep in mind the akuma or the akumatized person is also a victim, of Hawk Moth." Alya reminded.

One particular student sighed in relief but then suffered the looks of pity from the surrounding students.

"Ladybug always fixes all the mess, but you are often left with the memories of what happened." Alya reminded.

The students nodded.

"Have you ever been akumatized?" one student asked.

"Yeah, I was Lady WiFi. I wanted to expose the identity of Ladybug and Chat Noir." Alya explained. "I do not remember that at all."

The students reacted with stunned silence.

Ella and Etta run into the scene as they wanted something from Alya.

"And these little monsters are my little sisters and they were akumatized too." she explained.

More stunned silence from the audience.

And then there was a shower of questions. Alya beamed and answered them one by one. It went slowly because of the need for translation. That did not discourage further questions.

After that, Alya explained about the power of teleportation and that was how the superheroes travelled to the temple. She described her own experience in Startrain.

"Thank you Alya!" Marinette whispered.

"She is good." Adrien added and continued teasing Marinette.

The boy could not help himself, he was either holding his hand on her shoulder, or pulled her in a side hug or poking her from time to time. Marinette thoughtlessly swatted his hand away when he poked her in the ribs. She stared at her own hand in surprise. Had she just swatted away the hand of Adrien Agreste. What was she doing. She looked at his swatted hand and resisted the urge to grab it and pull it back closer. His other hand stayed on her shoulder the whole time.

Finally, he took his phone and noticed a few messages from Nino. Their friend wanted to know their impressions from the lecture Alya was giving over the internet.

"Well, the connection is not perfect." Adrien was assembling his answer audibly expecting some input from Marinette, but the girl just smiled. She did not trust neither her voice nor the ability of her brain to form words let alone coherent sentences.

"She should give more time for the Chinese translator." Adrien pondered what else to reply before he gave up giving any serious reply.

"Dude, I am tired of akumas" Adrien wrote, and he could not even write in how many ways. "Lets write about something else."

And so they did.

Adrien and Marinette laughed at Alya's stories and exchanged messages with Nino. The boy asked for a photo and Adrien sent him. And then Adrien took another selfie where he was hugging the girl close to him. He could feel how Nino waved his head and adjusted the cap on his head before he replied. Adrien blushed at the response but this time he hid the reply from Marinette. She was looking at Alya again so it was easier for the boy to get himself together.

Nino: what will you do when you come back?

Adrien stared at the message. First of all he did not think that far yet. There were too many things going on and returning back to Paris seemed as a distant future. He had no clue, the only thing he knew was that he was not letting this girl go. And he replied exactly that.


	54. Chapter 54 - The Questions of the Heart

The Questions of the Heart

Alya was in her element, talking more and faster and it became too difficult for Ling and Pema to translate.

Adrien and Marinette were in their own small world corresponding with Nino, not really paying attention to anything that was going on around them. Nino wrote about missing Marinette because he got stuck with babysitting Chris and Alya's twin sisters. They laughed to his antics and wrote back their own jokes. They felt warm inside, relaxed and carefree. They were teenagers exchanging messages with their friend.

"And you should know that the temple you are staying at has exactly the same symbol as one of the sentimonsters had …" Alya continued her 'lecture' "And we think this is why the akumas started to appear around the temple." The monk had years of training to prevent a slightly panicked expression from taking over her face, but she quickly asked Alya to wrap up the presentation as it was time for dinner.

"I think we should speak with the elders." Marinette broke their little cocoon. Adrien stiffened as he remembered why were they there. He typed the last message to Nino minutes ago and it was a greeting with no reply. He was just staring into the empty space before him while leaning into the girl on his side. He sighed as she moved away and repeated what she said the first time.

"Yeah, I guess we should." Adrien sighed and looked at her gently. He raised his eyes and did not need to look far, Dorje was just there. They exchanged a few looks and nods and everything was settled without words.

They picked up their bowls with food and ate in silence when the monk returned with his own food and ate quickly. There was something in moves that revealed the state of urgency. Finally, once they finished with their food Adrien and Marinette were pulled to the side by Dorje, and they went away. This time there was only one old monk waiting for them on the bench in the small room upstairs.

Plagg floated out from a pocket on Adrien's shirt.

"You did very well." Tenzin said upon greeting. "You finish your fights in less than a day."

Adrien translated automatically, while the meaning sunk in him and Marinette looked at each other confused. Tikki phased out from Marinette's clothes.

"We usually finish in less than an hour. There is Mr Pigeon and we often dealt with him in less than few minutes." Adrien smiled proudly.

"Hey kid, did you get any cheese for dinner by any chance?" Plagg put his hands on his hips.

"This is not about food and you know it." Tikki chided.

"I am sure we have something for you hungry little gods." Tenzin motioned his hand to Dorje who produced two packages with food for the kwami. "You must be exhausted after such a _long_ and _excruciating_ battle." Tenzin spoke slowly with strange accents on different words.

"Oh you have no idea what I have to put up with with this kid." Plagg teased as he dived towards the smelly package.

"I have not even used my cataclysm." Adrien glared at the little black cat got of destruction. Tenzin laughed. Tikki produced small noises of disapproval.

"You mean my cataclysm." Plagg corrected teasing further.

"There were wielders in the past who took several years to win a battle." Tenizin nodded his head deep in thought. These two kids were something different. They were really quick.

"Several years?" Adrien was baffled.

"Well, actually we are fighting Hawk Moth and Mayura for over a year, I guess." Marinette shrugged.

"Oh I was thinking of fighting a single monster. And there were cases when a villain would pass a miraculous to a person who would continue their evil deeds." Tenzin spoke quietly and slowly.

The two teens nodded as they listened.

"I, um, wanted to ask something." Marinette even raised her hand as if she was in school.

"Yes." Tenzin replied full of attention.

"Well, Hawk Moth can read minds of people and monks in this temple know our identity and … " she trailed off, but it was enough.

"The training for a monk or a guardian takes so long because we are able to train our minds to resist being akumatized or even being read." Tenzin smiled. "Only the fully trained monks are able to recognize miraculous wielders. Several of the others simply know you are here, because they are so far in their training they could be trusted and we could not hide that from them anyway. Our own apprentices do not know you." Tenizin smiled.

Marinette visibly relaxed.

"So the monks can't be akumatized." she concluded.

"That is." Tenzin looked at Dorje. "Not entirely true." The two teens gaped. "They can be. Our methods do not always work." The old man studied the carpet for a while. "You are the proof of it." He looked at the two teens intently.

"What do you mean?" Adrien was the first to open his mouth.

"He means" Plagg took his head off his cheese for a moment to speak so it must have been important. "You are both here and you have not failed yet."

"Don't talk like that Plagg. Everything will be okay." Tikki chirped from her sweet treat.

"I have a question. We travelled back in time to chase and fight that wielder who made a wish." Marinette explained. "Haven't we meddled with the timeline?"

"Yes you have." Tenzin smiled. "You created a new one and as long as you won at particular moment and a particular way, the new timeline was not different than the old one." The old monk took some time for the information to sink in. "That is temporally stable event."

"What if we failed?" Marinette whispered.

"Rabbit would take care of you and the timeline would disappear." Tenzin whispered. "We rarely have such events, do not count on that." he warned.

"Okay, but when we fought the akuma and the akuma pushed us back in time, at one moment I started to disappear." Adrien noted.

"That means you were about to do or prevent something that was essential for your existence." The old monk looked at Marinette.

She knew they remembered that event in the temple.

"We saw Master Fu when he was little. I thought if we warned him … he would not have created Feastin, the temple would not have burned and there would be no Hawk Moth." Marinette trailed off.

Tenzin stroked his beard.

"That is an interesting concept. And your logic was right. Except, you never know what would be the result." Tenzin continued to stroke his beard and watch the two teens.

"Without Hawk Moth, there would be no akuma that brought us there in the first place." Marinette looked at Adrien.

"So there would still be one." Adrien nodded.

"What made you change your mind?" Tenzin asked.

"Adrien was disappearing." Marinette whispered. She could not remember if anything else strange was going on. Perhaps some other students were disappearing too. She was so focused on Adrien she did not look further. Remembering that experience was painful. She felt pain in her chest that throbbed her insides and made it difficult to breathe.

"You acted on your feelings?" Tenzin asked slowly.

Marinette nodded. "I have made many errors by making decisions with my heart." It was the truth. She made that decision with her heart, not her brain. And she strongly believed a superhero should make her decisions with her brain. She made so many errors she made when she decided with her heart. She could easily number a few, one of them leading to Master Fu passing the miracle box to her. But how was she to decide anything else? Even if her brain was telling her to do otherwise? How? She would not do it differently. Her vision became a little blur, her eyes were wet, a tear escaped sown her face.

"You did all right, Marinette." Tikki flew to the girl and wiped tears off her face.

"Pigtails" Plagg flew to her. "It is okay, Pigtails."

"But I should have used my brain." Marinette sobbed out.

"You can make a good decision with a healthy heart." Tenzin smiled.

Adrien translated that sentence and cried with joy. He practically threw himself on Marinette and pulled her into a hug. He laughed into her shoulder. One look at the old monk told him that he approved the boys actions.

"Marinette" Adrien whispered into her ear while he held her. Was her heart aching before? Ladybugs heart was aching and she made mistakes? And she was okay now? Was it all because of him? Because he remembered when she told him that she loved him. They have not tried to resolve that, they have not acted on their feelings yet (oh yes they did act on them but would not admit that to themselves) nor developed their relationship into something more than friendship (although he was sure what they had could not still be labelled as just friends he did not bother to label it differently).

She smiled, her heart was full of love for this boy, weather he was wearing his catsuit or not. She loved him and she wrapped her arms around him. And all she wanted was for him to be happy. She did not droll all over him, she did not faint. The feelings she had for Adrien were different now. This was a different kind of love. This was the love she had for Chat, just stronger, calmer, soothing, just more of everything. There were moments when she would react to him as she did with Adrien before, because old habits die hard. But there was on overwhelming feeling that blocked all her senses.

"Should we practice that skill of self control then?" Marinette finally spoke. "It might help this kitty over here not to throw himself into danger." Her words were teasing, but her voice wavered and reflected how worried she was.

Adrien pouted at her instead of translating her request.

"I do not. You were the one who threw herself at the akuma the last few times." Adrien leaned back away from her and crossed his arms. And that was the truth. She was throwing herself into danger slightly more than before. She knew it was Adrien behind the mask and it pushed her slightly more than she would allow herself before the reveal.

"I did not!" Marinette countered.

"Yes you did." Adrien leaned back into her space and into her face.

"Nope. I only did what was necessary." Marinette waved her head.

They stared at each other for a moment before they both burst into laughter.

When they calmed down, Tenzin asked if they have any more questions.

"Um, that stuff about the heart." Marinette blushed. Adrien blushed back. Tenzin looked at them with a loving smile. "That is how Hawk Moth finds his victims. Their hearts are not in the right place?" Marinette tried to make sense of it all.

"Yes." Tenizin confirmed.

"He is using the negative emotions. But he managed to abuse the positive ones too." Marinette warned. "She wanted to spread love. That was how our teacher got akumatized."

"There must have been something wrong. You should not force positive emotions to mask injustice. You can't hide something wrong behind something that was right. You can't force people to love or be happy." Tenzin warned.

"Nino's party for my birthday." Adrien whispered. "Nobody was particularly happy there."

Marinette acknowledged.

"Is your heart at the right place, Adrien?" Tenzin asked.

Adrien looked at the old man and smiled then he turned and looked at Marinette gently and turned back.

"It is." Adrien smiled. "When it is with her." he looked at the carpet shyly and blushed. He was not sure how much of that conversation Marinette understood.

Tenzin told them they were free to go if they had no more questions so they got to their feet.

"My heart is not in the right place." Plagg whined. "The cheese is gone and the closest Camembert is so far away." The little black god of destruction put the back of his paw to his head and another to his chest and whined.

Tikki floated up to him crossed her tiny arms and gave him an incredulous look with her blue eyes.

"But my Sugarcube can make up for that." Plagg added quickly.

"Don't call me that." Tikki warned.

The two teens walked out from the room the two kwami floated after them and nestled in their clothes.

"Hey Sugarcube?" Plagg called again.

"I told you not to Sugarcube me." Tikki retorted.

"Got any cheese?" Plagg teased.

Two kids and a kwami groaned.


	55. Chapter 55 No Rest for the Wicked

No Rest for the Wicked

Gabriel was frustrated and angry on the inside, stiff and unapproachable on the outside (which was, according to the opinion of many who have ever met him, a normal state of mind for the man). Not only did his akuma fail, but the snowstorm it caused practically removed the butterflies from their surroundings. He wasted most of the afternoon searching for the butterflies in vain. He stood in the container stiff and tall staring at nothing in particular.

"We will have to postpone the use of a Catalyst." Gabriel said to the window with his hands behind his back. "We can't do that without butterflies."

Nathalie had just returned from the outside. They had set up traps, colourful pieces of cloth soaked in sugar attracted all sorts of bugs but there were no butterflies. She returned empty handed and it did not improve the mood of her superior.

"We have these that we caught before the storm, sir." Nathalie offered. She held a plastic container with several butterflies fluttering inside.

"How many do we have?" Gabriel demanded.

"Exactly five." Nathalie replied punctually.

"I wanted enough to akumatize everyone in that temple." Gabriel groaned.

"Literally everyone?" Nathalie was puzzled. "But how?"

"You would first create a sentimonster that would destroy the temple. That would make them all viable customers for akumatization." Gabriel explained.

"That is new." Nathalie smiled. "I am ready to do anything for you sir."

Gabriel's lips twitched into a small smile against his will. He turned away from her.

"I just do not feel anyone angry and wishing to conquer and rule." Gabriel clenched his fists in frustration.

Nathalie got an amused smile on her face watching him (and she allowed it on her face because he was not watching her) she knew one person angry and wishing to conquer and rule, he was standing just in front of her.

"Perhaps you should akumatize yourself again?" Nathalie proposed.

"No" he refused the suggestion instantly. "That is not part of my plan."

Nathalie sighed. 'Where is Napoleon when you need one?' she thought to herself.

They stayed like that in silence for some time.

"Nooroo, dark wings rise." Gabriel transformed into Hawk Moth.

Nathalie schooled her face hid the way the transformation of her boss impressed her every time. But he felt it, it was his ability to detect other peoples feelings that gave her away to him. He knew but never showed that he knew. Her admiration (and perhaps some other feelings) have him internal satisfaction that he was not willing to show. When he looked at her, she raised her eyebrows.

"I am going to scan the area for anyone fitting the profile of the akuma I want to create." he said flatly and turned his back to her.

Normally, he would be in his huge lair at a different level in the mansion, but they were in a small and cramped container and he could not make more than a few steps.

Nathalie raised her eyebrow, amused. She could see in his moves and his posture that he was not as self confident as he was in his lair. And, for some reason, it was more fun watching him like that.

"Nooroo gives me powers to detect other peoples feelings, do not ever think I do not know how you feel, Nathalie." Hawk Moth warned.

Nathalie sighed.

"Perhaps I should transform too, sir?" she offered. If she was not allowed to amuse herself with her own feelings and imagination, perhaps she was able to do something.

"At this moment, that would not be necessary." Hawk Moth dismissed her offer.

She sat in the chair and entertained herself by browsing through documents on her tablet. The signal for the empty battery worried her. The storm they created during the day prevented charging the device.

"You should have put it to charge earlier." Hawk Moth interrupted her thoughts.

How did he know. Of course he knew. She was so stupid. Do not think in front of your boss. Do not think in front of your boss. Do not think …

"You should have thought about that in time." Hawk Moth continued to pester her.

Was he trying to akumatize her? That made no sense. She would accept that willingly. Unless he wanted her in a different state of mind.

"Nathalie, you are so agitated I can't sense anybody else." Hawk Moth warned, his voice clearly revealing he was loosing his patience.

"I am really sorry sir. The solar panel works in the sun and we were in a shadow or covered with snow today." Nathalie quickly offered her excuse.

He approached her from her back and placed his hands on her shoulders. She winced. Then he reduced his grip slightly and started to massage her shoulders. She sighed with relief. He held a trace of smile on his mouth.

"That is better." he praised her in unnaturally gentle voice. Nathalie started to visibly relax and he continued holding her shoulders.

"You are under too much pressure." Hawk Moth spoke when he concluded he was finished with her shoulders. But she stiffened as soon as she heard the words.

"I can handle the pressure sir. I want to help you." she said determined, the last words voiced her devotion. "There is nothing that would ever stop me from being by your side sir." She continued. She wanted to tell him how she felt.

The problem was, transformed, he already knew.

And he said nothing.

His hands were still on her shoulders. He squeezed her shoulders once again and then let go.

"Oh, I can feel something. In the temple. There is a really strong feeling." A wicked smile adorned his face. "Someone is feeling criticized for acting on their feelings, someone is worried they have made a mistake … "

Nathalie sighed as he removed his hands from her shoulders. He moved towards the transparent plastic container with butterflies.

"Shouldn't I create a sentmonster first?" Nathalie jumped to her feet. She interrupted his train of thought with her actions.

"No" Hawk Moth shouted. Nathalie jumped from the surprise and then looked at him with concern.

"The feeling is gone as quickly as it appeared." Gabriel snarled.

Nathalie slumped back in her seat.

Gabriel returned his hands to her shoulders.

"We will wait for the nightmares then." Hawk Moth concluded and resumed squeezing Nathalie's shoulders.

It was getting dark and the students accumulated in the large sleeping room. The atmosphere was excited as they discussed the events of the day.

Adrien was in the bathroom washing himself up with cold water and wet cloth. He winced at each touch of the fresh water. He could not control that, it was a reflex to the cold water touching his skin.

"Getting ready for Pigtails?" Plagg teased.

Adrien blushed and swatted Plagg away. But his hand went through the thin air as the little black cat like god of destruction easily evaded his move and snickered.

"Making fun of you is the only pleasure I get from all the mushy stuff I have to suffer." Plagg recited while zipping above his head.

"Be quiet, you could be heard." Adrien whisper shouted.

"Nope, nobody here. Too dark." Plagg snickered pretending to peek over the curtain.

Adrien sighed. That meant there was no way to avoid Plagg's teasing until he got dressed and left.

He cleaned his hair as much as he could and wandered what he looked like. In the absence of mirrors, he used his phone. Instinctively, his face formed a smile because a camera was pointed at him. It was very dark so the phone flashed into his face.

"Oh yes, you have not really been in the bathroom if you have not taken a selfie there." Plagg mocked. Adrien rolled his eyes and looked at the photo on his phone. The photo was strange as the flash was too close to his face, the red eye reduction did its job. His hair was ruffled at least as much as Chat's and the skin on his face was much darker than on the rest of his body. He smiled at the photo. It was so much more him than any photo taken during his modelling career.

Plagg watched as his chosen tried to tidy his hair using his hands and his comb. The effort was futile because it seemed that the ends would escape as far away as possible from his head with the each stroke.

"Getting ready for one of your fancy events?" Plagg teased, he dropped 'that your father organizes but never attends' on purpose. The boy did not need a reminder about that.

"Nah, not that." Adrien smelled his clothes. There were traces of lavender smell on everything, mixed with the smells of all the different cheeses he kept for his kwami in his onesie. He sighed because he was not going to sleep tonight without a stash of cheese in his clothes. He wandered how Marinette never complained about the smell while in his proximity (as if she ever would).

"This event is far more important for me." Adrien grinned at Plagg as he collected his clothes in the darkness and got ready to return. He turned on the torch on his phone to see if he left anything. And then he saw a piece of his pants with the words of the designer company written in large letters on the rubber waistband, his father's company, his father's name.

Plagg guessed what was going on in the boy's head. Adrien contemplated just leaving it there or even burning it.

"You need to take them kid, and wash them." Plagg advised calmly. "Unless you start not wearing your underwear at all." the little black cat god grinned, his eyes glowing in the dark. He could not resist teasing the boy, even in such moments.

"The letters would not go away in the washing." Adrien sighed as he picked up the item from the floor. All his underwear were marked by the name of his father. He felt like a piece of property again.

"Why does it have to be so cold Tikki." Marinette whisper shouted as she put the cold wet cloth on her body. She rinsed quickly if only to remove it as quickly as possible. "I swear this feels at least like minus twenty degrees." The girl hissed. Tikki sat on top of a pile of clothes and munched on a cookie.

"You know that is not physically possible." Tikki chided and laughed at the girl waving her head.

"I know, but I also know how it feels." Marinette hissed again.

"That probably means to tell you more about how you are doing than the water temperature." Tikki floated over and patted the girl's cheek.

"I guess I am just too tired." the girl whispered again.

"You should get some rest, Marinette." Tikki made sure the tone of her voice would accept no objections as she returned to her cookie and resumed her dinner.

"Yeah, I know

"They do not have the benefits of modern life here." Tikki chirped soothingly.

"Yes, I know, no warm water, no central heating, no … " Marinette started laughing tired and slightly hysterical. "But apparently we have the internet and that is all that matters."

Tikki floated up to the girl's face.

"Someone might hear you." Tikki whispered.

Marinette wiped the tears of laughter from her eyes.

"As long as they do not hear you, they'll think I am nuts, or I could pretend I was on the phone." Marinette was tired of the lies she had to tell to hide her identity.

She was finished and started to get dressed.

Tikki watched the girl silently eating her cookie. Ages have passed since she ate the last pink macaron. She would not complain. She would never complain about the food she got. She was determined not to behave like Plagg. But she had to admit, she was not always so lucky that her chosen or her family were able to provide such endless supply of sweet treats.

"Time to do some washing." she commented on the state of her wardrobe. "Tomorrow." She added as she put the last piece of clean warm underwear over her usual underwear and then the onesie.

Tikki was worried for her chosen. Marinette has not asked once if she looked okay for Adrien. That was a clear sign that the girl was immensely tired. Tikki clearly remembered how the girl checked each detail on herself before going to school because Adrien might see her, because Adrien might notice because she was hyper aware of everything the boy said or did. As much as that annoyed the little goddess sometimes because it made Marinette late for school, she missed that.

"Have you collected all your stuff Marinette?" Tikki chirped. Marinette felt the floor in the darkness and found nothing. The girl felt through her stuff in the darkness. It would be much easier if she used the torch from her phone now.

"I just can't find my phone."Marinette whined. She was so tired and now she could not find her phone and she needed the phone to find anything.

She felt through her clothes again. And then she heard a clunk as something hard hit the floor. She followed the sound with her hands and found her phone.

"It was probably in the jacket pocket, I just did not find it the first time." Marinette whispered tiredly. She collected her things and left. One of her knee high socks left forgotten on the floor.


	56. Chapter 56 - The Cursed Stone

The Cursed Stone

Marinette wrapped her arms around her clothes, hugging them close and held the phone in her hand but with the torch off. She wanted to save the battery for a few late night messages with her parents and friends. Well, she mostly corresponded with Alya now, the others only knew she left for China. And the rest of them were busy enjoying their own holiday activities so they did not ask too many questions.

"Marinette, you might want to use the torch on your phone to see where you are going." Tikki warned quietly as she floated near her chosen. It was so dark that nobody would see her, and the background noise of the students chatting in the other end of the hallway clouded her own voice.

"The phone is really low on battery and I still need it for other stuff." Marinette waved her head. With her clumsiness it was only expected that she would stumble and fall. But she could clearly see the faces of few students at the end of the hallway as they were lit up by the screens of their phones and after walking sufficiently far in their direction she should find the entrance to the large room where everybody slept. Once she was there, it was easy because it was fairly lit even without the phones.

She was thinking on what to write to her friends for today. There was always the akuma and sentimonster attack, and there was little else to write about without mentioning Adrien. And she had to keep him being with her a secret from her friends. Another secret to keep. That was just too much and then she run into something in the darkness.

"Kid, you are annoyingly cheerful this evening." Plagg complained to his chosen.

Adrien was practically dancing along the hallway, his face was adorned by a stupid dorky grin as the boy allowed himself that hidden in the darkness. He is going back to the sleeping bag with Marinette, with his lady, and nothing else mattered. He will pull her close and feel her warmth. That will keep him warm on the inside. He will wait until she stops moving and wiggling about, until her breathing evens out and she falls asleep. He might put her head on his shoulder or just wrap himself around her or … anything and then he will fall asleep to the sounds of her breathing.

"I am cheerful, you are annoying." Adrien retorted to his kwami looking at a pair of green eyes slightly glowing in the darkness.

"I chose to say the same to you." Plagg muttered back, he was not even hiding the sarcasm in his voice.

"Plagg" Adrien said dreamily. "I just feel so happy." the boy smiled looking nowhere in particular.

"I can't believe that anyone could be truly happy while consuming so little cheese." Plagg muttered to himself.

Plagg was never in that lovey dovey mushy stuff that his chosen were all about when they fell in love (and to his utter dismay it happened more often than not). It was just, the little black god of destruction lost so many of them that he stopped enjoying their lovesick smiles and the way they behaved on cloud nine. And that feeling cost them their lives more than once. Far more than once. Plagg was worried.

Adrien searched the darkness for the two green eyes that glowed in the dark when he heard someone tumble to the floor right in front of him.

Marinette followed the lights at the end of the hallway completely forgetting that the hallway itself was neither straight nor clear of obstacles. She ran into a statue of a sitting man that reached just above her waist and there was no way for her to see it in the darkness. She practically bounced back and slightly to the side when she hit it. Her arms flailed in the air as she instinctively tried to catch balance. Her stuff flew from her arms like the water from a fountain. The statue was practically in the middle of the hallway and she rolled over almost to the wall. Her phone flew from her hand in the process and she could hear it clatter on the stone floor. She consoled herself that the sound was clatter and not a crash that would indicate the phone got smashed in the process.

Adrien did not stop when he heard someone falling as he was in the middle of a step and then he tripped over something, or rather, someone. It was someone's leg. He was falling in the darkness and he quickly let go of his stuff by throwing it into the air. And then he landed onto something softer than the stone floor. It was someone. He felt the fluffy fleece under his hands.

Someone squeaked.

"Marinette?" Adrien whispered. He was just about to apologize in the best Chinese when the squeak reminded him of his _friend_. The body underneath him felt familiar, very familiar. It was the same shape as the body he slammed into so often, he had rolled over and carried the same body, he had shared the sleeping bag with the same body. Her name was the first on his mind.

She hit the stone floor hard and then someone landed on top of her knocking the rest of the air from her lungs. The only warning that she was a living being was a tight squeak she managed to release from her lungs when she hit the floor. Her whole body was flat against the stone surface. The cold stone on her face was the only thing telling her that she was still conscious.

The person on top of her called her name. Her brain picked up Adrien as a first possibility on the list of suspects. Her body already remembered how his body felt whenever he had fallen on her (mostly as Chat Noir, but they were the same person). And combined with sharing the sleeping bag during the last week, she was rather certain who they might be.

Adrien felt the body underneath. His hands were looking for some sort leverage on the hard floor so he would push himself up from the person he had fallen onto. But his hands landed on other body parts before he felt the cold surface of the stone and shifted his weight on his hands.

"I am sorry. I am so sorry." He whispered getting up. It was sufficient for her to confirm just who exactly was on top of her.

He heard a muffled whine from below him.

"Adrien? It is okay." Marinette replied and he recognized her voice. That only confirmed he landed on her.

"I am so sorry." He replied. "Are you hurt?" he tried to feel her in the darkness, he checked her arms how they felt and how she was positioned. She remained still on the floor and he was really worried that she got hurt. He wanted to grab her from the cold stone floor but that would be bad if she was hurt, if she had broken something.

She remained still. She mentally examined each of her limbs before she tried to move any of them. She felt dull pain in each part of her body that touched floor. It was probably the consequence of an impact and she was expecting to be bruised in the morning.

"Um?" she tried to move but sharp pain prevented her. "Yes?" she tried again but slightly differently and it worked with almost no pain. "No." she added to reassure him. If she could move then she was probably okay. As she moved she felt more painful body parts. "I don't know." she whined quietly. A pair of green eyes watched them as they floated around them.

"She will be bruised but you are both fine." Plagg informed them hiding the both worry and relief from his voice (and failing).

Marinette felt how Tikki patted her cheek and partially phased through her clothes checking the girl.

"I am so sorry." Adrien pulled her to sit on his lap and put his head on her shoulder.

"It is okay, I ran into something over there." She aimed her hand to the darkness and Adrien could not see nothing much.

"It is that laughing Buda statue." Plagg said rather aware he was probably the only one able to see it in the darkness.

They both sat like that for a few minutes until they calmed down from the fall and cloud actually feel each of their limbs.

"You should collect your things and get some rest." Tikki chirped.

"I dropped my phone when I fell, I have no torch." Marinette whispered.

"My phone and my torch are in my jacket somewhere on this floor." Adrien laughed.

They went to all fours tapping around with their hands and collecting their things to a single pile.

Marinette has not located her phone yet and Adrien had swiped most of the floor with his hands and did not find neither her phone nor his jacket. They widened the area of their search when Marinette reached one of the tapestries that hung along a wall all the way to the floor. She knew that each of them hid a passage or a niche or a small room so she wanted to feel the floor just behind the tapestry. But the moment she felt the woollen tapestry she stopped moving her hands. Something inside her told her that it was not wise to explore that space with her hands. She needed to use her eyes. But her eyes were useless in the darkness. Feeling rather confused by what her own instinct was telling her, she took the bottom part of the tapestry and lifted it up.

There in the dark she could see a stone the size of her fist glowing slightly red in the dark. She could clearly see it. The red was just intensive enough not to be completely dark, it was not sufficient to lit up the space around. She stared at that small rock.

"A cursed stone? It revealed itself? To me?" Marinette spoke quietly, astonished, remembering the stuff the kwami told her back in Paris.

She stared at the stone. Plagg hovered over the moment she spoke the words. Tikki followed.

"Adrien?" she called for the boy. She moved the tapestry to the side.

"Yes?" he replied.

"Do you see it too?" she asked.

Adrien crawled to her and put his chin on her shoulder to see what she was looking at.

"Um, what am I looking at." He asked puzzled.

Marinette was silent. She was not touching that if the kwami were right in any way.

Adrien waited for a few moments.

"Is there something glowing faintly red?" Adrien widened his eyes trying to see anything and make sense of it.

"It might be that cursed stone." Marinette whispered barely audible.

"Do you see it Marinette?" Tikki chirped.

"I see a stone the size of my fist slightly glowing red in the darkness." Marinette described what she saw.

"Well, I do not see anything." Plagg replied flatly. He was the god with night vision and yet there was something he could not see in the darkness.

"Wait here, let me find a torch." Adrien replied as he turned around and crawled some more trying to find his jacket. Finally when he was close to the statue, he felt fabric touch his face. He raised his hands. His jacket was hanging from the statue. He got up and picked up the jacked going trough the pockets. He felt other items of his clothing on the jacket or falling down and he picked those up. He was turning around and retrieving a small torch from his pocket. He took a step towards Marinette when he tripped over something on the floor and his arms flailed in the air. He dropped his clothes again and it flew through the air while he held the torch firmly in his hand. He managed to keep himself on his feet and regained balance, but his clothes was all around again. Never mind, now he had a torch and he will find the rest of his stuff in no time.

"Wait, the stone reduced, or something fell on it." Marinette whisper shouted. She felt at least one item flew by her head and into the small niche or whatever this space behind the tapestry was.

Adrien got back to all four and crawled back to her holding his torch. He put his left hand around her waist just because he could and his chin on her right shoulder.

"I am switching it on, be careful with your eyes." He warned before he switched on the torch.

They both closed their eyes after his warning.

They opened their eyes slowly, adjusting their eyesight slowly to see a niche before them.

There on the floor lied Adrien Agreste's boxers with the name of his father clearly written in huge letters on the wide rubber band. The boxer shorts covered a stone the size of a fist, the surface of the stone could be partially seen as it peeked on the side.

Adrien blushed because these were his (dirty!) boxers that lied in front of Marinette in plain sight.

Marinette blushed because these were Adrien Agreste's (dirty?) boxers that lied in front of her in plain sight.

Adrien unwrapped his arm from Marinette to fetch the offending item and hide it from her. But she caught his hand.

"Don't" She warned. "Don't touch it." she held his hand firmly and even pulled it back to her waist. "Just leave it there." she whispered. "If that is the cursed stone, we should not touch anything."

Adrien nodded, she could feel it on her shoulder. He wrapped his arm around her waist and looked at the boxers once more. He pulled her back and she released the tapestry to hide the niche.

They both got up and collected their things with the help of Adrien's torch.

Marinette picked up her laundry a bit self-conscious because it was her clothes, including underwear, spread across the floor. Adrien held the torch, there was no way he did not see it.

Finally, they located her phone. The protective glass had one crack, but the phone itself was alive and well (while the battery was nearing the empty range).

Together, with the help of Adrien's torch, they found their way to their sleeping bag. After they disposed their clothes and wrote a few messages for their friends and family, Adrien finally sighed.

His arms were around her as he pulled her as close as he could. And she snuggled into him. She got closer. He could not help the smile on his face. She was already sleeping.


	57. Chapter 57 - Turn the Table

Turn the Table

Marinette slept cuddled into Adrien. The boy lied awake with a wide smile on his face, his eyes half open looking nowhere in particular. Ling and Ye arrived, saw the scene, smiled and waved back.

"We wanted to ask you to play a game but I guess you are not available at the moment." Ling teased.

"Is she okay?" Ye asked.

Adrien was reluctant to speak and wake up the sleeping girl. In his bliss, he forgot how she fell on the floor in the hallway.

"We stumbled down in the hallway." Adrien whispered. "She might be bruised."

Ling did not wait for any further information, neither asked for permission. Without warning she lit on the torch and flashed it into the face of the two teens. Marinette chose to lay on the side that was not hurt so her hurt side was up and visible.

"She already is." Ling replied calmly. "I'll fetch you a cooling pillow." she said as she left.

Ye sat next to the two teens.

"Is she injured anywhere else?" he demanded in a bit awkward voice.

"She is probably bruised but she said she was okay. I, um, did not look." Adrien blushed.

"And you? Are you hurt?" Ye continued quietly.

"No." Adrien felt a pang of guilt. "I actually fell on her, she took the hit." The boy admitted with a shaky voice. Marinette moved slightly, but continued to sleep in the same position.

Ling returned with a small cooling pad in her hand, crouched and put it on the side of Marinette's face.

"It is not that bad, but she might have a bruise." Ling tried to provide some sort of comfort to distressed Adrien.

"Let's go find someone to play a game, we can check on them later." Ye proposed and they walked away.

The moment the visitors left, Plagg phased through the sleeping bag and looked at Adrien and Marinette.

"Kid." Plagg whispered. "Don't worry, she did not get hurt so much, she is tough." A pair of green eyes stared at the boy, the rest of the owners body hidden in the darkness.

"I just wish I have caught her. She was so close. I just did not see her. And then I fell on her and I just made it all worse." The boy rambled whispering with a shaky breath.

"She is okay Adrien." Tikki phased through the sleeping bag. "I checked on her."

Adrien held the cooling pad on her face and looked at it with concern.

"She is so hurt that her cousins could see it instantly." the boy reprimanded.

"The bruise on her face might be the worst because that part was not covered by the pyjama." Tikki continued.

"You should give her some cheese, that always makes me feel better." Plagg teased sniffing the cooling pillow.

"You would let go of a piece of cheese for her?" Adrien teased back.

"You must really like her." Tikki joined the game.

"Pigtails decided to keep my chosen instead of choosing the easy way out." Plagg crossed his tiny arms, but nobody could see the move in the darkness.

"Will the bruise on her face be visible when she transforms?" Adrien asked.

"It is not too bad, I can take care of it." Tikki chirped.

"You should get some rest kid." Plagg hovered in front of Adrien's face.

"Yes, don't worry about what happened. You can't change that. Everything will be okay." Tikki patted the boys face until he closed his eyes. The two kwami waited until he fell asleep to phase back into the sleeping bag.

Hawk Moth paced back and forth in the container, he was waiting for any sign of a person in the distressed state in his surroundings. But, the evening was calm and everyone was either engulfed in some sort of entertainment or already sleeping.

Nathalie tapped on the tablet scrolling through the images on social media and reading all the reports she could find on the latest attacks until the battery went dead. She sighed and put the tablet away while she tried to concentrate and process the information she got. There were photos of Chat Noir and Ladybug hopping over Parisian skyline regularly posted on different social networks.

There were several articles devoted to the missing akuma attacks in Paris and more of them about the akuma attacks in Tibet, but not nearly as many as for any minor attack in Paris. She did not read them all, she never did because that would have been a waste of time. Most of them would simply echo the news from other websites. There was no Nadia Charmack live from the scene of the attack. There were only several photos and texts she thought were mostly mere speculations.

Hawk Moth was staring through the window again. The lights in their compartment were off so nobody could check the interior from the outside.

It was already dark outside, the area of the small container camp was lit up and several solders waked around and chatted. Hawk Moth sighed. The most intensive negative emotion he could feel was boredom. And a few persons frustrated for loosing at the video games they played. He could release the butterfly and akumatize any of them just to reduce the tension of waiting for the opportunity to arise. But he was already short on butterflies. And he was not sure if he will be in any better luck finding more tomorrow. But, perhaps he should create an akuma just to keep those two annoying young superheroes busy and tired? That was a strategy he did not really try before because he might drain himself too.

Then again, they have apparently teleported each time. What if he found the portal and passed to the other side? He could get a hold onto the horse miraculous and the power of teleportation. Nooroo insisted that the kwami did not know much about each other's powers and that the book of Lore contained more information that the kwami knew themselves.

Besides, he did not travel to Tibet to fight Ladybug and Chat Noir again. He was here to explore and retrieve more miraculous stones. But a change in strategy to get the Ladybug and Chat Noir miraculous might be beneficial if they so willingly offer them by coming here of all places.

Nope, his strategy for creating a perfect akuma was good. The solution must be right there in front of him …

Nathalie stepped right in front of him, she put herself in the narrow space between him and the window.

"Sir?" she tried to get his attention. He slowly focused his eyes onto her. It was difficult in the darkness, but he would not risk turning on any source of light.

"If there are no suitable candidates, perhaps you should get some rest?" She offered and suggested for him to detransform and sit down.

"No, I cant find suitable candidates while detransformed. I am much more perceptive like this." Hawk Moth dismissed her proposal. He could feel her concern, it was genuine. Why was he concentrated on reading Nathalie's feelings instead of finding a suitable candidate for his next akuma?

"I was thinking of changing strategy and trying to lure Ladybug and Chat Noir here again and to get their miraculous." Hawk Moth stated. "They have less options to get their allies here."

"They have obviously utilized someone with the Horse miracoulous sir." Nathalie warned.

"It must be someone new. Ms Rossi had informed me that the previous wielder of the horse miraculous is travelling for the school holidays." Hawk Moth was curious who was the wielder this time.

"May I remind you this is not why we got here sir?" Nathalie dared to counter her boss again. She was concerned they would stray away from their initial goal and it would somehow be her fault.

Hawk Moth smirked at her bravery. Perhaps he had underestimated her.

"We got here to find other miracoulous stones that might be hiding in that temple." She spoke quietly and timidly, feeling braver because he did not release a storm after the first sentence.

Hawk Moth finally schooled his face to look more intimidating and Nathalie winced.

"Do not ever think I forgot about that Nathalie." Hawk Moth warned.

Nathalie looked at him dazed, he is going to reprimand her attempts to speak with him on equal terms.

"I just see an opportunity here." Hawk Moth turned around showing his back to her.

"But we had the same opportunity in Paris." Nathalie replied quietly in timidly, leaving to the meaning of her words alone contradicting the man before her.

"I am just sorry you do not see it too." Hawk Moth finished in a tone that would bear no response.

Nathalie was devastated at first but she schooled her emotions quickly. This was not the first time she took the blow of Gabriel or Hawk Moth rage, at least the verbal one. And the truth was, he always saw more opportunities than she did. She was thinking hard on what to do next. He would not rest so neither would she.

"Perhaps you should get some rest if you feel tired." Hawk Moth proposed much more gently than he did before. He felt how his words have hurt her. Not that he cared in particular when he hurt anyone, but the way she felt hurt gave him an incentive to rethink his steps.

"I am not tired sir." Nathalie brushed him off a bit harsher than she wanted.

"Are you sure? You might prefer to get some rest while you can. Just like you have suggested it to me? Perhaps you were suggesting that because you were tired yourself." Hawk Moth was persistent in his argument.

"For as long as we fight, I will stay by your side, sir." Nathalie was determined.

The truth was, there was a nagging question hidden well in the back of her mind and she never allowed it to surface. What was going to happen to her once Hawk Moth won? He would get Emilie back. He would get his wife back. His wife. What would Nathalie be in that situation? His trusted and confident assistant? What was the future she could have with him? Would he keep her or dismiss her as she saw so many times he did to other people.

As long as they were in this business of creating monsters and going through a battle after a battle, she was the closest person to Gabriel Agreste.

Nope, she was not thinking about that. She erased those thoughts and those question from her mind. Instead, she focused on different kind of thoughts.

Currently, she **was** the closest person to Gabriel Agreste. She was his confidant. She knew his identity. He trusted her to use the peacock miraculous of his (late?) wife. He even fixed it for her so she was not getting ill from using it. (Although she also fell into a coughing fit when he akumatized her into Catalyst the second time).

He was closer to her than he ever was to his own son. He was closer to her than he ever was to any of his colleagues, friends, anybody. She wandered if he was ever really this close to his wife. She had that attitude and spirit, but have they ever been so connected like she felt right then.

She always liked the idea of being akumatized in Catalyst. She was the catalyst for his ideas, she turned them into life in his real life too. It was her job and she did it with love. And she had an idea.

"Dusuu, dark feathers rise!" she ordered and transformed into Mayura. Hawk Moth turned around surprised at her action and admired her transformation hiding the smirk on his face.

"What do you think you are doing." Hawk Moth demanded.

"I have an idea sir." Mayura smirked.

"Yes? Well let me hear about it." Hawk Moth gave her a stern expression but then his face turned into a wicked grin.

"Our supply of butterflies is a bit short." Mayura began as she took a few steps rolling her hips a bit more than necessary. She put her hand on the container holding the butterflies to emphasize her words.

"A way to stress the obvious." the grin on Hawk Moth's face fell, but his eyes glowed when he saw the look in Mayura's eyes. She was teasing him. She dared to tease him. And it was working.

"But the supply of the feathers, on the other hand ..." she waved her fan at her face with a sly smile and a careful look in her eyes.

Hawk Moth took in a deep breath sensing what is coming next.

"Is rather large." Her sly smile widened as she studied how his composure changed.

Hawk Moth took a few steps towards the plastic vessel with the butterflies.

"I suggest for you to be my Catalyst tonight." Mayura leaned in in what she hoped was a seductive pose too. She was taking initiative. She was proposing a solution. It was him who had to follow what she proposed.

But his mind was simply tuned differently. His smile was wide and wicked at the same time. Of course he liked the proposal. He would akumatize Mayura, he would give her the powers to release as many amok as she wanted and at the same time he would have the complete control over her.


	58. Chapter 58 - The Scarlet Peacock

The Scarlet Peacock

Hawk Moth reached into the vessel containing the butterflies and captured one white butterfly in his hands and it turned violet. Mayura watched his every move. She will be given the poser at her own request. She took a few deep and quick breaths as if she was going to dive into the ocean.

"Fly away my little akuma and give her power to create as many amok as she wants." Hawk Moth sneered as he released the violet butterfly.

Mayura watched the violet butterfly as it fluttered the close distance and captured it with her fan. The fan glowed violet in the darkness. A violet mask glowed on her eyes. She smiled faintly.

"Scarlet Peacock." Hawk Moth called and Mayura nodded in acknowledgement. "I give you powers to create as many amok as you wish and they can materialize the fears of the persons they encounter." Hawk Moth grinned wickedly at his idea. They should not be desperate, angry, annoyed or actually afraid. He altered Mayura's power to alleviate the biggest issue they had.

"I accept." Mayura replied solemnly. The dark energy washed over her. She felt her powers change and enhance. Her outfit changed from dark blue to scarlet. Her scarlet feathers practically glowed in the dark. Hawk Moth admired his creation silently. This was going to be his most powerful akuma yet. He just knew it.

Scarlet Peacock took a moment to admire herself and then swiftly caught her tail, she plucked the feathers from her tail and they turned scarlet.

"Fly away my little amok and infect all at your path." She blew them out through the window.

The feathers flew away into the night.

"More." Hawk Moth ordered and she produced more feathers that turned scarlet and she blew them away through the window. But she gave him an incredulous look.

"More" Hawk Moth snarled and Scarlet Peacock repeated the procedure. She was akumatized and she was inclined to do whatever Hawk Moth demanded from her. But, deep inside she did not agree this was the best strategy.

"If I send so many, I will not be able to follow all the monsters they create." Scarlet Peacock warned. She knew they had much better control over a single monster than over many individual ones. She would not be able to harness the power of especially dangerous sentimonsters, she would have to order them as one.

"It does not matter, you will create your own army and they shall obey your orders." Hawk Moth snarled. He knew what to do. He knew how it worked. (Well it did not actually work out for Hawk Moth in the end but it takes a genius to learn from their own mistakes.)

"Okay, I will do as you wish Hawk Moth." Scarlet Moth sighed.

"More." Scarlet Moth ordered again and soon there were more scarlet feathers going out through the window.

A feather landed on a solder's hat. His commanding officer appeared in front of him and started shouting at him. The solder was confused. He looked at the command container where the commanding officer stayed and could clearly see the man looking through the widow, then the solder looked back at the sentimonster in front of him and scratched the back of his head.

The commanding officer stood in front of his window as he was dictating some letter to his secretary. He looked at a copy of him yelling at a solder. He was struck with seeing the phenomenon and did not react for a few breaths. The secretary raised her eyes from the keyboard and stared at the back of the commanding officer.

Another solder encountered a feather that landed on the phone he carried in his hands. A spider jumped out from the screen. The solder started running away and the spider followed after him.

So, the next thing the commanding officer saw was one of his solders running away from a giant spider.

"Where did you get this tea?" the commanding officer demanded from his secretary, who was dressed in an army uniform and sitting at the only desk in his office and fetching some paperwork to pass time while her boss was looking through the window.

"Just the usual green tea from the army rations, sir." The secretary answered politely and returned to her work.

"May I ask you to come over for a second?" the commanding officer demanded.

The secretary sighed and got up from her chair. She was a bit annoyed that she had to let go of the paperwork just when she was almost finished with it. She was looking forward to wrapping up for the day and enjoying some free time before she went to bed. On the other hand, if there was anything interesting going on outside, it would at least make the day shorter.

One solder was taking a walk around the camp when a feather landed on his cap. A dark creature with red eyes emerged before him in the darkness. The man started running away, screaming and yelling for help, but the creature quickly picked up the pace and followed.

The commanding officer opened the window to let some air in and clear his head. Perhaps he was too tired. Perhaps it was the low air pressure at that altitude that was getting to him. Perhaps it was the tea and he just had too much of it during the day.

They have had that freak snowstorm during the day and he was exhausted from first organizing and then dismantling the emergency response crews. There were avalanches and reports that several people were seen being buried or emerging from an avalanche. He was organizing the search and rescue team when the snow suddenly disappeared.

Late this evening he heard that these events were explained by some unnatural phenomena called an akuma and a sentimonster and that the incident from the last night was something similar. He still did not place a report on those events to his superiors. He expected to be taken to an emergency psychological evaluation if he did. That was something he would do if he was a commanding officer somewhere else and got such report.

Ha had asked his secretary to collect all the data she could from the internet (weather or not these were reliable, he had to produce a report where he would at least assess the situation). The solders have warned that there is some information available on the social media, but these were mostly ignored buy his superiors. He had little time before they would ask what was going on. But right then, he had more pressing issues than dictating reports.

The secretary approached the window and the first thing that gained her attention was a copy of the commanding officer yelling at a solder. The solder would still flick his eyes from the copy to the original in the window and back. The poor guy was not exactly sure what was going on.

The next thing that happened was another solder escaping the dark bipedal creature with red eyes glowing in the darkness.

The secretary rubbed her eyes.

"I think it is getting really late sir." She spoke quietly.

The man running away from a large spider returned and they could both see him clearly. The solder who stood there with the copy of the commanding officer yelling at him looked at the other solder and the spider and then at the one chased by a large dark creature and then turned to the window. He looked helpless as if he was asking for help with his eyes.

"I have had many night duties in my career." The commanding officer spoke slowly. "I was awake for several days in a row." He continued stressing each word. "But I have never been this tired." He pointed his finger through the window as he pronounced the word 'this'.

"Well it is the same tea we always have, sir." The woman replied remembering his initial question.

"Perhaps it is the new stock, perhaps someone mixed something in it by accident, perhaps ..." the commanding officer counted the options on his fingers.

"We had the same tea yesterday." the secretary cut in into his talk.

"Exactly!" the commanding officer stressed his point. Because last night they had a first incident he could not exactly explain to his superiors without doubting his own sanity.

She sighed. There was something really strange going on with the temple and they got reports of the talk about akuma and sentimonster and that these creatures appeared elsewhere before. She had collected much information but she was hoping her commanding officer would not sent it further. That would really plant the seed of doubt in the sanity of the solders.

The commanding officer took a paper tissue to wipe his forehead. He held the paper tissue in his hand and watched as a scarlet feather floated in through the window landed on it.

His own superior appeared in front of him telling him he had lost his sanity and will be put into an institution with no delay nor hearing. The secretary stared at the event and stood by the side of her commanding officer, if he was going nuts then she was going nuts too.

"Perhaps we should drink more liquids. We might have dehydrated from the events today, it is normal to see mirages in the desert … " she recited a few facts she remembered first from her training for the field work.

"This is not a mirage." The commanding officer retorted.

The secretary watched as another scarlet feather floated through the window and landed on a cup she held.

A snake appeared at the floor, she screamed and jumped and finally climbed the desk she was working at, she was screaming and staring at the snake.

"I do not have control over all of them." Scarlet Peacock waved her head. "There are more and more."

"Excellent, we will wait a little more time until there are so many. They will listen to you as one." Hawk Moth grinned wickedly. "This is working out perfect." He exclaimed victoriously.

"I have to be close by, I can get better control." Scarlet Peacock proposed.

"Yes, we will do that. Just be patient and we will go up there." Hawk Moth put his hands behind his back. "This plan is going to work out perfectly."

The stood there for a few more moments. But he was becoming impatient too.

"Why don't we go for a stroll and see our little friends at the temple." he opened the door and got out. Scarlet Peacock followed him out.

Purple feathers floated into the temple and started infecting students. The feathers would land on phones, playing cards, bracelets and badges, practically any object they held in their hands or had on their clothes.

A horde of angry professors, angry parents or disgusting monsters filled the hallways and the rooms. Several students got copies of their significant others telling them they do not love them any more (and in more than one example the significant other was sitting right next to the person).

"You are not accepted at university." Was told to many students to their utter dismay.

"You are a disgrace to this family." Was said to the other.

"We have invested so much in you and this is how you repay us." A third one was yelling holding a piece of paper. "But these are not my grades." The student would retort.

"I know you are not real." One student got up on her feet and screamed at a giant cockroach that stared at her. "You are just a that-monster." She screamed more and threw her water bottle at the cockroach.

"Come on, we are supposed to go out and find a safe spot or something." the government guide called up on the students. Few have turned her way, most were still staring at the materialization of their greatest fear before them.

But those few that did turn nudged the colleagues next to them. "Come on, we have to go."

The guide repeated the calls while a giant hairy, slimy and smelly monster swayed towards her. She took a few steps and pinched her nose before she repeated the call nudging few more students to join the evacuation.

Adrien woke up to the noise surrounding them.

"Another attack." Ling yelled trying to shake them awake.

"Many monsters. Look out." Ye shouted his warning. A purple feather floated to his pack of playing cards. A person appeared next to him. "It is my duty to inform you that you have been expelled from school." The person said coldly.

Ling turned around quickly only to see a feather land on the good luck charm she had around her wrist. A screaming puppet appeared in front of her.

"I knew I should not have watched that film." Ling muttered and got to her feet.

Adrien looked at Marinette who had just fluttered her eyes open.

The next thing he saw was a scarlet feather landing on the cooling pad he still held over the side of her face.

He froze as the cooling pad became scarlet.

Marinette noticed panic in his eyes.

"I believe I have taught you better than to lay around with girls like her." They both turned their heads up. Just above them stood Gabriel Agreste in all his glory. "Don't you think I know your secret already?" He snarled. "You have no chance, not a single chance." After that he calmed down and spoke more quietly. "You had your fun, now give me your miraculous." And Gabriel Agreste held out his hand.


	59. Chapter 59 - Hiding Your Monster

Hiding your monster

"This is not him." They both whispered in unison. The sentimonster in the shape of Gabriel Agreste stared at them anger visible in his eyes.

"You will give me your miraculous." the sentimonster snarled. The gabriel Agreste they saw was dressed in his usual attire he wore daily in Paris. He radiated high fashion, style and elegance thet simply did not belong in the environment of students with their sleeping bags, not to mention the slimy, hairy monsters.

"We have to go." Marinette whispered quickly as she scrambled out from the sleeping bag.

"We have a job to do My Lady." he greeted her with a wide smile at the sight of her blue eyes. But then he became worried again. "And it is going to be different this time." He added as he began to understand the scene around them. It was dark, but he could recognize the commotion.

"It is different every time." She smiled back and looked at the cooling pad that Adrien held in his hands. "Is that our infected item?" she asked pointing her chin to the item as she scrambled to fetch more cookies for her kwami.

One look around revealed to her that there were many monsters created and students started going out from the room. Some were running in panic, other walked more calmly. Several stood in place and just screamed.

Adrien grabbed the package with cheese while he was getting on his feet.

"I believe I have placed my request and you have not complied yet." the copy of Gabriel Agreste shouted at them.

"I think we all got our fears materialized." Adrien whispered to Marinette pointing to a girl screaming at yet another spider.

"Yeah, so is he yours or is he mine?" Marinette asked pointing at Gabriel Agreste behind them.

"I don't care." Adrien replied. "We have scarlet feathers. Look" he pointed at another feather falling onto the phone that the girl with the spider held in her hand (she was trying to film the spider while she screamed in fear). Another spider appeared next to the first one.

"Okay, let's go out. Take the infected item with you." Marinette ordered and turned around. She was all business. She was Ladybug. The wheels in her head were turning and she was making yet another plan.

"I will put you out from school, Adrien. This kind of behaviour is unacceptable." Gabriel continued to pester both of them as the sentimonster followed them around the large room.

"Is that his father?" Ling asked Marinette quietly when they got close and the girl nodded to confirm. The strange and scary doll that followed Ling got in front of Gabriel Agreste and the sentimonster kicked the doll in annoyance. It was clear that was not the man but the sentimonster because he did not even wince in pain from hitting a wooden doll with his toes.

"What an awful person." The older girl remarked to Marinette on their way out.

"He is their fear not a real person." Ye remarked as he overheard the conversation between the two girls.

"Actually, there is not much difference." Adrien chipped in. "They are remarkably similar." he added.

"you will give me your ..." the sentimonster was cut off as someone else's slimy monster fell on his face. He was chasing after Marinette and Adrien but he did not raise his hands once to actually try and fetch her earrings nor his ring.

"Okay, let's get as many of them out as possible." Marinette proposed as they were finding their way between the slimy monsters and criticising adults. Adrien winked to reply. He knew they needed the students and their infected objects out and far away from the temple so that Ladybug could clean them all. It will be a chore, he knew.

"I am a busy man." Gabriel Agreste sentimonster snarled following them around. "I do not have time for your childish whims."

Hawk Moth and Mayura got out from the container that served as their accommodation and lair and strolled out from the camp. While the camp was filled with various monsters that chased different solders or simply wandered around, their appearance did not draw much attention. They were simply considered as merely two more monsters looking for their poor victims (and anyone who thought like that was perfectly right).

The commanding officer decided to go out from his office and try to take charge (whatever that meant in the current situation). His secretary followed, but only after she caught her phone and the official camera. She jumped from the desk and over the snake and landed right in front of the open door. She ran out screaming, but she did not forget to snap a photo of her snake in the process. She hoped the photos would be sufficient to keep them all out from the nuthouse.

They saw two tall persons wearing strange clothes and masks on their faces that strolled through the campsite.

"I wander which poor guy has those for their fears." The commanding officer muttered while his secretary took one more photo and then screamed and jumped away from the snake.

"These fears they have are not very efficient. They should be petrified with fear." Hawk Moth complained to Scarlet Peacock on their way.

They scaled the rocks quickly as they jumped their way up from one rock to another.

"I could not direct their fears for each of them, they got a monster that represented the first fear that came to their minds." Scarlet Peacock replied.

"Well, as long as they work for us." Hawk Moth muttered as he jumped up from one rock to the other.

Meanwhile, Adrien and Marinette followed by a Gabriel Agreste sentimonster were finding their was through the chaos.

"I was in the middle of something really important. You interrupted me in my work." the sentimonster continued criticizing and complaining.

"We will destroy as many items as we can and clean and then we can go to the source?" Adrien asked quietly. Marinette could barely hear him over the screams surrounding them.

"Well we have to clean our own and I would prefer to save as many students as possible but we will win this one only if we go to the source." Marinette replied in a whisper.

"Hey, kid, pick up the guy from the floor or you will trip over him." Plagg whispered to his ear. The little black cat like creature was not easy to spot in the darkness and right then he could pass as another monster, nobody would notice.

Adrien stopped and turned on his torch only to see a terrified student lying on the floor with a shadow of white ghost hovering next to him. The student stared with his eyes wide staring at the ghost beside him and his mouth open in a silent scream. He bent over and took the students hand. At that moment the student stopped starring at the ghost and his eyes flicked towards the person who took his hand. He screamed first but then he scrambled first to all fours and finally to his feet. Ye grabbed the student's hand and they went out together.

Marinette was trying to get attention from a girl who was pestered by an invisible being. The girl crawled up into a ball but something kept yanking her hair and clothes.

"Leave me alone." she screamed from time to time.

Finally, Marinette pulled her in a way that the girl was nudged out from her living nightmare and got to her feet. Marinette easily nudged her and the girl ran away.

Marinette was already in the door leading to the hallway and Adrien switched off his torch and put it in his pocket. He took her hand and felt the wall when they entered to corridor. Although he did not have the night vision while not transformed, he was so used to leading the way in the darkness that he did that on instinct.

"This is unacceptable. What do you want?" they did not need any night vision to know that their personal sentimonster was following them.

Hawk Moth and Scarlet Peacock climbed all the way until they were standing on a rock on the edge of the cliff opposite the entrance to the temple. They saw there was a lot of commotion in the darkness before them. After a few blinks they could see individual students chased by different monsters, oversized animals and other persons.

"I believe it is time to take control Scarlet Peacock." Hawk Moth warned motioning with is hands to the students that were escaping the temple followed by their monsters.

"My dear sentimonsters go back to the temple." Scarlet Peacock spoke. The sentimonsters stopped in their tracks.

"Find me the magical stones hidden in this temple." she ordered. The sentimonsters slowly started their way back to the temple entrance.

"Take your hosts with you." Scarlet Peacock ordered. Few of the monsters literally grabbed their screaming students and dragged them along, other students followed their monsters inside, few of them event tried to stay a few steps ahead. But many were relieved that the monsters were focused on something else and not the students themselves.

"You are an imbecile. What am I supposed to do with you?" Gabriel Agreste sentimonster snarled in crowded corridor covered in darkness, lit up by a few torches the students kept on.

Adrien and Marinette headed towards the main entrance to the temple. They were just about to exit when Adrien pulled Marinette and sentimonster to the side. He could see better over the crowd in front of them. The sentimonster in the shape of Gabriel Agreste protested in a typical Gabriel fashion, but both teens ignored him.

"Hawk Moth and Mayura! They are out there" Adrien whispered. "If they can't tell us through his eyes" Adrien waved his head towards the sentimonster. "They will certainly notice a copy of Gabriel roaming around and following us."

"I would guess they did not recognize us through his eyes or he would have tried something more than to just intimidate us." Marinette whispered.

"Yeah, he is pretty tame, I'll admit." Adrien nodded his head, he was half mocking half serious. He was worried because the sentimonster represented his own father very clearly. He still winced at his comments although he was aware that was only a monster.

"Perhaps we could give him some cover." Marinette produced a piece of cloth, it was a large and rough towel that was wrapped around a statue. She wrapped it around the sentimonster's head and covered most of his upper body in the process.

"What is this atrocity you want me to wear? You want to be a designer? And you think this would match?" the sentimonster sputtered.

"Nope, it is not working. He is still talking." Adrien waved his head. He was not sure if he should laugh or be scared in this situation.

"Okay, lets take the different exit." Marinette pulled his hand. Gabriel Agreste sentimonster followed them sputtering his protests. They lost sight of Ling and Ye as the other two went out from the temple when they pulled aside.

"You are useless. Your idea's are useless." Gabriel Agreste sentimonster shouted behind them that even few other students winced at his antics and stared at the monster (who was yelling in French so most of the students did not understand what was it all about).

The two teens followed each other and walked along the same dark hallway following the wall with their outstretched hands. Adrien tried to take Marinette's hand in the dark again and she let him. She was not sure if he needed help in finding the way or reassurance against the words coming from the monster that resembled his father.

"Okay, we passed the big room now seventh tapestry to the right." Marinette whispered into Adrien's ear. He smiled and wrapped his arm around her. She sighed as she had to leave his arms and continue walking but she did squeeze his hand first reassuringly.

"Your wishes will bring you nowhere. You are completely useless. Dealing with you was a waste of time." Gabriel shouted insult after insult after both of them. Sometimes the words would insinuate he knew their identity but the two teens ignored him as much as they could.

They reached the tapestry and moved it to the side, only to find Dorje and Pema waiting there and leading them out. Just when they were on the outer side, they felt a pull on their bodies, something was pulling them inside.

"Where do you think you are going?" Gabriel Agreste snarled. "You are to stay inside and do your job." The sentimonster stood in the dark hallway and they could not really see him. "We are going to find that magical stones and bring them to Scarlet Peacock."


	60. Chapter 60 - Ressistance (is futile)

Resistance (is futile)

"We are going to find that magical stones and bring them to Scarlet Peacock." Gabriel Agreste sentimonster snarled in the dark hallway. The two teens felt as if they are pulled back by his words.

"You have to resist." Dorje whisper shouted to the two teens as he tried physically keep them in their place.

"Concentrate, think only on what you need to do. He is irrelevant. Discard his words. Shed them away from you." Pema spoke slowly, calmly and convincingly. Marinette slammed into the wall and pushed herself onto it with her feet. Both monks smiled as she managed to keep herself steady with no further physical intervention.

"Just concentrate on what you want to next, only the next step and you can do it." Pema continued.

Marinette peeked around the corner and turned back.

"Hawk Moth and Scarlet Peacock are going into the temple." Marinette warned. Her eyes widened as she comprehended what that meant. Her plan was simple, get rid of the Gabriel Agreste sentimonster and go directly to the source while they are busy trying to control all those monsters. But if the two are in the temple, where the heroes should not be transformed, then she had an issue. And on top of it all, her sentimonster really wanted to meet them.

"His words are irrelevant." Adrien said. He was repeating the same in his head since the moment the sentimonster appeared over him. 'His words are irrelevant.' was his mantra. His father was Hawk Moth and of course anything he ever said to his son could only be treated as irrelevant. Except it was relevant at the time and it scared him.

"You are irrelevant." the sentimonster shouted back whit the tone and the posture of typical Gabriel Agreste, the words might wary, but Adrien had seen that so many times that he winced even though the words themselves had no meaning.

"If we go back inside, then he will be seen by Hawk Moth and Scarlet Peacock." Marinette whispered. She held on to a wall not to be pulled inside. Dorje and Pema grabbed Adrien as he had difficulties resisting the pull.

"But they can't see him." Adrien whispered to Pema. "If they do they will know about me." His father was about to find out that he escaped the Agreste mansion, that he went to China, that he went to the temple, and possibly guess with whom and his secret identity. This was a disaster on so many levels. And Marinette followed the same train(wreck) of thought he did.

"My plan has failed. They are all back in the temple now." Marinette whispered to herself. Dorje put a hand on her shoulder to steady her as the girl started to crumble.

"You did not fail." he spoke quietly hoping the girl would understand.

"You did not fail." Tikki chirped.

"We can do this, Marinette." Adrien turned to tell her as she approached closer. Adrien pushes himself closer to her and plants both of his hands on her shoulders, Dorje removed his hand to the side to make sure the girl does not move towards the entrance.

"I should have made a different plan. We should have attacked the container where they were hiding. We should have used the element of surprise while we had that." Marinette whispered in panic and waved her head.

"You know why yo did not do that." Plagg floated over to Marinette. He was never encouraging Adrien to go for a direct attack. Both heroes were just kids with considerable limitations in their powers. They fought him when they had to face him.

"Yeah, identities, element of surprise. But we would have surprised them." she stressed the words we and them. She really thought they had an upper hand here, that they were one step further as they knew the identities of Hawk Moth and Mayura (well now she was apparently Scarlet Moth).

"We still have that. We can surprise them." Adrien whispered. It is not lost yet, they have not lost yet. Hawk moth did not know their identities yet. Adrien did not dare to think it might mean something to his father that Chat Noir was in fact his son.

"You know they would have transformed on the spot and then they would have an advantage." Tikki chirped. The little goddess of creation was never jumping and then looking (unless the occasion required exactly that).

"And they would know we know who they are." Adrien added. That was the most important thing. The villains did not know that they knew … complicated. Anyway, focus Adrien, do not get dragged back into the temple, not now.

"We were supposed to attack them now, while they are busy controlling all those sentimonsters." Marinette whispered. She was still in grief about her failed plan. She had to get herself together, she had to do it quickly, she had to return back to the fight with a new plan before her.

Gabriel Agreste sentimonster shouted further insults.

"You still can." Pema whispered. Both teens were stopped by the magic pull, they did not resign to the pull, but they made a few steps away from the temple side door. The girl in front of her as a fighter, but for the last minute or two, she felt like she was loosing.

"We still can, and we will, My Lady" Adrien whispered and squeezed her shoulders. He was resisting the pull with the help of Dorje. He knew what he had to do whenever Ladybug felt small. Now it was Marinette who stood in front of him. Same person. He smiled.

"They will be in the temple, you just have to fight them there." Pema whispered. She saw how they fought, they were quick ans efficient. The intensity of their fights was huge. The long fight would eat away their resolve and strength.

"Exactly." Marinette replied with both determination and sorrow in her eyes. That was not how she planned it. She was warned not to transform nor use her powers inside the temple. She wandered how far from the temple walls that applied. She would have to talk to Tikki about that, just not right then in front of the sentimonster.

They fell silent for half a minute and overheard the commanding officer discussing the matters with his secretary and several solders while noises and screaming interrupted them.

"I say we are either all going nuts or there is something peculiar about this temple." the commanding officer spoke.

"I took photos and videos sir. That should keep us out from an asylum." the secretary tried to assure him but the effect was baffled by her scream following her speech because she was escaping her snake.

"They will lock you up and throw away the key." The superior officer sentimonster that followed the commanding officer laughed wickedly.

"We are going inside and we will find those stones and then we will resolve all these monsters." the commanding officer sighed.

"They are going to search the temple for the miraculous box?" Adrien whispered as he understood the words. This was terrible, this was the Miracle Queen all over. Hawk Moth must not get that box.

"It is not that easy to find." Pema whispered reassuringly. There were ways to hide it, but that was neither time nor the place for such discussion.

"But we do not have all the time in the world." Dorje warned. They knew this attack was not a joke although some of the fears that materialized to the students seemed more funny than intimidating.

"We have to bring the sentimonster with us, somehow." Marinette whispered. Her tone indicating her resolve was coming back. "We just need a minute for me to transform, then we can tear this bag and clean the amok. He will disappear." Okay, not a complete plan yet, but she knew with what to begin, right? And that was a good start of any plan.

"Is that the infected item?" Pema asked pointing to the cooling pad Adrien held in his hand after retrieving it from his pocket.

Adrien confirmed.

"Rip it, I will take the amok on me and your identity will be safe." Pema offered.

"No." Marinette spoke too loud for her liking.

"No" Adrien repeated.

"We do not know what is their next step and you know too much." Marinette warned. The monk just admitted she knew how the miracle box was hidden and Marinette knew how any person could get mind controlled at any point. That only made their situation worse. She only hoped that Dorje and Pema would have the sense of mind to strip the earrings and the ring off from Adrien and her if that happened.

"Let's try to resist the pull." Adrien proposed and made a few short steps. "It feels like walking through water." he whispered in strained way as if he was pushing something heavy.

Marinette followed him, each step seemed painful, but it was taking them away from the temple.

"Where do you think you are going." the sentimonster shouted from behind their back.

"He is asking for far too much attention." Marinette sighed. The sentimonster was too loud.

"As always." Adrien replied. But both of them now stood still because they had their attention to the sentimonster. Adrien turned around for a glance and then turned back. "At least he is staying put. Let's do this My Lady."

Dorje stayed next to the sentimonster as he agreed with Pema he will try to keep him silent. Pema would help with her advice on how to resist the pull.

But Marinette and Adrien progressed for about ten steps when Gabriel Agreste sentimonster suddenly walked after them.

"I am getting the magical stones from you." he shouted.

At that moment they knew. All the sentimonsters were instructed to find the magical stones and Gabriel Agreste sentimonster just felt their miraculous. For some reason, he was not able to sense it when they were closer to the temple (or he was actually in the wall).

They ran in the darkness as fast as they could. Dorje fought the sentimonster and tried to stop it. Although the young man had immense strength, he was only human, while the sentimonster had the strength enhanced by magic. Dorje did manage to slow the sentimonster enough for Marinette to reach the small cave.

"Tikki, spots on." she whispered.

Adrien ran into the cave holding the heating pad.

"Turn on the torch and let me rip the cooling pad." Ladybug ordered.

He did both, the torch was already in his other hand, just switched off so he would not be easily spotted in the darkness.

Ladybug ripped the cooling pad easily, a violet feather fluttered out. She caught the amok and cleaned it.

"Thank you, it is much easier to catch what you can see." Ladybug whispered.

Adrien was still catching his breath.

Pema entered the cave and soon after her Dorje.

"So what is the plan, My Lady?" Adrien grinned still holding his knees and catching his breath.

Ladybug waved her head.

"My initial plan was to either go to a direct attack at the two of them or collect the infected items outside and you would cataclysm the pile." She sighed. "But right now, I do not know. The sentimonsters are after the miracle box and they might have got it already as far as we know."

Pema and Dorje looked at each other with worry in their eyes. They knew the magic of the temple could reveal or hide many things, but even after spending years living and training there, they did not fully understand how it worked. The only thing they knew, that anyone could use its magic for their benefit and other persons demise.

"I think we would know if they already had the box." Adrien whispered. He hoped he was right. He hoped that the fact that Hawk Moth and Mayura are not already demolishing the temple meant they were still looking.

"And if they found the box and looked inside, they would know instantly which box is it." Ladybug continued. "There are not too many miraculous boxes with exactly the same package of miraculous missing, right?" she crossed her arms.

"Then we go back and protect the miracle box." Adrien concluded with a wide grin on his face. They had a plan and he did not entertain the thought of ever doubting any plan his lady had ever made. Even when she got a scotch tape or a fork as the lucky charm to defeat an akuma.

"That would be correct." Ladybug smiled. That meant she was about to detransform. That meant she was facing Hawk Moth himself as a civilian.


	61. Chapter 61 - The Monster Within You

The monster within you

Ladybug, Adrien, Pema and Dorje stood in the small cave contemplating what to do next. Ladybug was sure she had to detransform and talk to Tikki first, before entering the temple, but they had wasted enough precious time while trying to get rid of a sentimonster in a shape of none other than Gabriel Agreste. Hawk Moth and Scarlet Peacock were in the temple guiding a horde of sentimonsters to search for the miracle box (or basically any magical stones because at least they did not know the miracle box was in the temple again).

"I have to detransform and we have to face Hawk Moth and Scarlet Peacock as civilians." Ladybug whispered out loud.

"Are you sure we can't enter the temple transformed?" Adrien asked Pema and Dorje.

"Of course you can enter the temple transformed, kid." Plagg retorted. "Those two just did."

"Well let's go then. Plagg claws" but Adrien was cut by Ladybug putting her hand over his mouth.

"No. The temple distorts powers." Ladybug warned.

"Shouldn't you ask your lucky charm what to do?" Plagg implied.

"I could, but I do not want to exhaust Tikki." Ladybug sighed.

Three people and a kwami gave her an incredulous look. She was about to face two supervillains and a horde of sentimonsters as a civilian, Tikki should have some time to recover.

"Lucky Charm" she threw her yoyo in the air.

A red scarf with black spots fell down from the air. Ladybug and Adrien caught it while Plagg rolled along on it.

"The texture seem familiar." Plagg teased "Although the pattern is different." the little black god of destruction stopped rolling on the scarf, he sat still kneading the threads with his little paws. "But my chosen might personally prefer this pattern, you know."

Adrien blushed in the darkness. Nobody could see that but Plagg. And Plagg was the only one expecting him to blush. The black kwami snickered and floated away, but in his next move he phased through the scarf.

"Miraculous Ladybug." Ladybug threw the scarf in the air and Adrien followed it with his eyes and a touch of sadness in his chest. He kept telling himself it was only temporary. The cooling pad reappeared on the stone below their feet. Adrien picked it up and stored in his pocket.

"Tikki, spots off." Ladybug whispered and in a flash of pink light her suit disappeared. Marinette stood in her place and caught Tikki in her hands. She did not exactly see the little red kwami of creation in the dark cave (as Adrien's torch was pointed down) but she did the same move so many times that her hands knew exactly where to go to fetch her. Absent-mindedly she reached for her purse, that was missing on her thigh, and only then she realized to fetch a cookie from the front pocket in her onesie.

"Let's go." she urged the other three to move and started walking.

"So what about that lucky charm of yours?" Adrien asked following her in step.

"It was your scarf, Adrien." Marinette whispered, rather annoyed that she had to return to that subject. She hid the truth from Adrien and the boy was hurt by his father because of that.

"Could you tell me exactly how you got that scarf, Adrien, please?" she asked in much more timid voice. She needed the details. The details were important.

"You made it for me for my birthday." Adrien replied rather confused. Why was she asking him about that. He just learned about the truth about the scarf a week ago.

"No, I mean, how did the scarf reach you?" Marinette whisper shouted. She wanted this conversation finished before they reached the temple.

"My father did not allow me to have a party for my birthday. Nino got akumatized. We saved him. Nathalie brought me a gift and said it was from my father." Adrien dictated with telegraphic precision.

"I left the gift in the mailbox, but I forgot to write a card or sign it. Then I sneaked into an office, took a post it and wrote from whom it was." the girl tried to remember every detail. "Do you think it was your father who removed the post it or she did that herself?"

"My guess would be Nathalie, I do not think he even saw the scarf. He probably ordered Nathalie to get a gift for me and she failed so she took yours." the boy contemplated out loud.

"Okay, so here we are." Marinette sighed and entered the temple through the back door.

Adrien held his torch switched off.

"Where is the scarf now? If they saw it would they recognize it as your own?" Marinette whispered as they felt their way through the narrow dark passage.

"It is tucked into the sleeve of my jacket. Someone would have to rumble through my jacket to get it." then he stopped and looked at his flash light. "Just like I did when I was getting this."

"Okay, so we go first to the big sleeping room." Marinette whispered.

"Yeah." Adrien whispered back.

They stood before the tapestry that divided the main hallway from the small corridor they took. Marinette peeked on the side and Adrien put his chin on her shoulder to get a glimpse too. There were students and there were various monsters. Apparently spiders and slimy piles of goo are not the best choice for a search squad aimed at miraculous stones. The students were screaming in fear or disgust and the monsters wandered around in the best re-enactment of the Brownian motion, at least the two dimensional one.

"We are missing something." Marinette whispered.

"Should we pretend we have our own worst fear following us?" Adrien asked.

"Sure." Marinette smiled. "You can crawl after me and sing song 'I am in love with Chloe and we will have a hamster named Marinette.' That was my nightmare during Sandboy, before I transformed." she admitted smiling sheepishly.

"That nightmare would be rather high on my scale too." Adrien admitted.

Adrien put his black cap over his head and then the hood of his onesie over that. Marinette simply pulled the hood over her head and hoped not to be recognized.

"Perhaps we should get some chalk and colour our faces like in those action films." Adrien teased.

"That is actually a really good idea." Marinette praised him.

"There is chalk in the storage on the right bout you might prefer the coal from the bathroom." Pema piped in.

"What for do you use coal in the bathroom?" Adrien asked incredulously as they sneaked out from their hiding.

"Cleaning." Pema answered as if that was the most commonly known fact.

They sneaked into the bathroom where Adrien made his hands and his face dirty. Marinette was about to fetch more when strong steps made both of them freeze in their current positions. They were hiding behind one of the curtains and could clearly see someone with a torch walking up to them and moving every curtain to check if there was anyone (or anything) there.

There was more than one person doing the search, they could clearly hear the sentimonster started shouting insults to the other person who was doing the search.

Pema and Dorje got caught, she could hear the shuffle and the two monks were ordered to give magical stones. Pema played it well as she tried to fool the man, but the man was not really interested in the stones and apologized profoundly for any inconvenience, it was one of the solders from the camp. He politely asked them to join the others in the search.

The two monks almost got the solder to give up on the further search and allow Adrien and Marinette to escape. They crawled the floor hidden behind the curtains when another person followed by an insult spitting sentimonster approached from the other side. And it was the sentimonster who moved the curtain.

"I will show you how it is done." the sentimonster in a shape of a middle aged man with a huge belly snarled as he removed the curtains. "A-ha, Gotcha!" he all but screamed out and pointed to the two teens. Then he quickly bent over and grabbed them by their necks.

"So who are you and why are you here?" the sentimonster snarled at the two teens while the poor student to whom the sentimonster was attached tried to make amends. The sentimonster carried its magical strength enhancement and lifted the two teens in the air.

Marinette instinctively grabbed the item she felt under her hand on the floor.

"Were you hiding from your monsters?" the man snarled. Both teens twisted their faces in disgust.

Adrien managed to speak somehow while the man held him in the air by holding onto his onesie. The boy admired how it did not rip apart from the poor handling.

"My fear is to get dirty." Adrien waved his hands dirty from the coal he used to paint his face. Once the monster saw his dirty hands waving in front of his dirty face, an awful not human like sound escaped his throat. Perhaps it was supposed to be some strange kind of laughter. Nobody felt like laughing along.

"Pretty boy likes to keep clean, are you?" the monster mocked and Adrien accepted it, he did not want to fight right away, he did not want to risk transforming just to face some mediocre sentimonster. Nope, he had more important business to do.

"And you." he looked at the girl who he held by her onesie. Marinette wiggled a bit trying to escape while the sentimonster talked to Adrien, but she stiffened the moment the monster turned his gaze to her.

"I, um?" she raised her arm and was rather surprise to find her own knee long sock, wet and dirty in her hand. She blushed when she realized what she was holding in her hand.

"A sock? You are scared of a sock?" the monster snarled.

Marinette tried to understand what the monster was telling, and she was cursing herself for her poor knowledge of the language. Perhaps if this monster would only speak nicely and slowly, carefully and correctly pronouncing each word, perhaps in that case she would have understood. But monsters were generally not known to bother with the correct pronunciation. With all the screaming joined by the pounding of her own heart in her ears, she could barely understand anything. That was why she probably missed the rest of the conversation. 'At least he released Adrien' she thought with relief when she looked down and saw the boy stand on his own two feet. The boy was talking. The boy was telling something.

"It is rather common that the girls worst fear is that someone might see her underwear." The student cut in speaking carefully and slowly trying to persuade the sentimonster to leave the girl alone.

"Especially if it is their dirty underwear." Adrien cuts in, he stressed the word dirty and pointed to the sock.

The sentimonster glared at her as he slowly lowered her down to stand on her own two feet. She clutched to her sock like a baby clutches a plush toy and stared back at him. Why was the sentimonster putting her down? It was something they told. But what did they tell him.

"If you both have your monster, you go to the sleep room." The monster shouted at them and continued the search moving and flipping curtains, tearing a few in the process.

Adrien grabbed Marinette and pulled her to the side.

"You are scared of this sock, it is your monster, look scared of it." Adrien smiled at the girl with his sunshine smile.

"I will take that interpretation as a personal insult." Plagg muttered below Adrien's ear.

"You are a god of destruction, aren't you?" Tikki chirped from Marinette's hood.

"Was not I the one with the enhanced hearing?" Plagg muttered again as the first statement was only for Adrien to hear.

That was actually the moment she stopped looking terrified and started looking only scared. She still clutched onto the sock when another monster grabbed them and pulled them along. They walked swiftly and followed it to the main sleeping room.

They were relieved to find themselves close to their sleeping bag. One glance had revealed to Adrien that his scarf was still safely tucked up in the sleeve of his jacket and not visible to anyone who did not go and pick through his stuff to find it.

And they found something, or better yet, somebody else. Ye and Ling waved to them from their spot. Both were accompanied by one angry professor who was informing Ye how he failed in his school and a wooden spooky looking doll who clattered around Ling. Both students have already got used to their monsters.

"I have an idea." Marinette whispered to Adrien as they got left.

"Where have you dumped your guy?" Ling asked quickly.

"We managed to get rid of that in a freak accident." Adrien winked.

"We could ..." but Marinette did not have the time to finish her idea.

Hawk Moth walked into the large room with the Scarlet Peacock just behind him.

"You call these your worst fears?" Hawk Moth snarled. "These are not fears." Hawk Moth motioned to one spider and looked at Scarlet Peacock. She looked at him incredulously.

"Arachnophobia is a recognized disease." Scarlet Peacock retorted with obvious annoyance in her voice. Hawk Moth raised an eyebrow. His akumas did not put much resistance let alone contradict him like that. But he smirked in response. He knew that was Nathalie.

"Spiders are very inefficient in support for our endeavour." Hawk Moth continued. Then the girl followed by a giant cockroach walked just between the two villains.

"Disgusting." Hawk Moth snarled. Scarlet Peacock winced away. The girl was far from well, she was terrified and disgusted at the same time, but she was not petrified from fear.

"It is obvious these monsters are not their worst fears, this was the first unpleasant thing they had on their minds." he continued to criticize.

"Come on, let see what are you really afraid of!" Hawk Moth snarled.

"We can try and create more, and perhaps not so many, but with more satisfying qualities." Scarlet Peacock spoke in a tone and voice that sounded almost seductive.

Adrien winced at the sound of the voice. He knew it was Nathalie below that mask just like he knew it was his father under the mask of Hawk Moth. This was the first time he faced Hawk Moth in person since he knew who was under the mask. And he was facing him as a civilian.

"I believe we can create more appropriate monsters, my dear." Hawk Moth grinned wickedly.

Scarlet Peacock produced a violet feather and slammed it into a torch that a girl held in her hand. Another bipedal monster grew from her torch as she released it with a scream. It had long white hair all over its body. The monster flailed its arms and a whirlwind that carried snow appeared in the large room. The whirlwind escaped through the door.

"Send him out." Hawk Moth ordered and Scarlet Peacock issued the order.

Then she produced another feather and landed it on the phone another girl held.

The monster that popped out from the phone was identical to the time travel akuma.

"Peacemaker?" Marinette whispered. She dreaded what was coming next. And it did.

"Yes, that is correct. This would work much better. Takes us back to the time when the miracle box was full and in this temple." Hawk Moth snarled.

At that moment the akuma started turning around towards Hawk Moth and Scarlet Peacock. Marinette grabbed Adrien's hand and jumped. Several students and their monsters disappeared before the ray from the sentimonsters hand caught the two teens and merely seconds later, Hawk Moth and Scarlet Peacock. And the girl with the cockroach.


	62. Chapter 62 Repetitio est mater studiorum

Repetitio est mater studiorum

(lat. Repetition is the mother of learning)

Marinette became aware where she was. It was the same large room, just without sleeping bags and backpacks littering the floor. There were several students with their monsters, a spider, a snake and a cockroach, and one annoying adult complaining about something, she did not understand what it was. The student from whose phone the sentimonster of the time travelling akuma appeared was screaming something that sounded like 'not again'. The student was obviously terrified as the previous experience of the time travel had obviously been a bit too much for her.

It was dark, it was the middle of the night just like the time they left. Everyone else was confused with the turn of events. The student with the spider called for her friend that was not transported to this time.

Hawk Moth glared at his surroundings. Apparently, this situation was not what he expected.

"Except tidying up, what have you done?" the villain snarled at the sentmonster. The girl next to it screamed even more.

Hawk Moth pinched the bridge of his nose as if to prevent a headache. All this screaming was much more than he had to endure on normal days. He had power over the brains of akumatized persons and could control what they did. He would direct their screaming while staying securely in the controlled environment of his lair. This was different. This was different. This was not something he did. And even if he has, he would take an elevated position over his 'subjects' and control his akumas. The situation he left was a complete chaos and he was relieved to be out from it.

Only then Marinette realized someone was holding her, a pair of arms was wrapped around her waist from her back. She put her hands over them and felt the familiar ring on one of the hands.

"Do you see where they wear their miraculous? She has a brooch on her chest and he has a pin below his neck." Marinette whispered. She could have a good look at both villains and study their masks and their costumes.

"Yes I have, we could jump them and tear them off." Adrien whispered. He was eager for action and wanted this over with. He did not enjoy the battle where he was not transformed into Chat Noir. The urge to run away, hide and transform was built into his reflexes. On the other hand he could cuddle up to his Lady in the darkness and she did not complain nor push him away.

"That might prove to be harder than we think it is." Marinette waved her head. Marinette's instincts were Ladybug's instincts. She wanted to transform and stand between the villains and civilians. Something inside was pushing her to go forward and just do that even when she was not transformed. But this battle was different.

"I have never seen Nathalie wearing that brooch." Adrien admitted. Then he also admitted, but only to himself, that he could not see that Marinette was Ladybug although he was sure he would recognize her in her civilian form as soon as he saw her. "But I tend to miss these things."

"Don't worry." Marinette replied. She was thinking of the ring on Adrien's hand that she could feel in her own hand right then. "I think we would both have noticed if we saw it on her after Miraculer."

"And the same is valid for his pin. I am certain he wears a tie around his neck." Adrien continued. At least he was certain about that.

"They are wearing their miraculous on their clothing, perhaps even hidden inside the clothing." Marinette whispered. They had better chance of ripping the miraculous from the civilians than from transformed supervillains.

"Okay, but if I get to be close, I will go for the miraculous." Adrien whispered. He was determined to at least try. Marinette felt determined to remind him of the possible cost.

"Adrien, do you remember how many akuma and their minions with their strength and agility enhanced by magic were going after our miracoulous and they always failed?" Marinette asked incredulously.

"Of course." the boy replied matter of factly.

"Then how do you expect us, a mere civilians, to fetch their miraculous?" Marinette crossed her arms over her chest and glared to the side as she could not exactly glare straight at him when his chin was on her shoulder.

"She is right, kid." Plagg confirmed.

"Everything will be okay, be patient, you will know what you have to do." Tikki chirped her own encouragement.

"We have returned in time, sir. This is what we should expect." Scarlet Peacock looked around to see what was going on. There was not too much to see in the darkness. Some students were holding torches lit up if only to be slightly less afraid. And they moistly pointed their torches to their respective monsters.

"We have to search for the miracle box." Hawk Moth ordered. He stood in place with his hands behind his back observing the scene.

Marinette noticed a faint light behind a passage and started to walk in that direction pulling Adrien along. He unwrapped his arms only after taking a few steps and held her hand instead. They walked along a narrow corridor for a few meters when they reached another room. It was much smaller than the first one. There, in the middle of the room sat a boy who might have been twelve years old. He watched an octahedral box richly decorated with ornaments. The boy had his back turned to them and they could see the box only partially, but they both knew.

"Master Fu" Marinette whispered.

"The miracle box." Adrien nodded.

They removed themselves from the room entrance and started to walk back.

"You know what you have to do, Marinette." Adrien whispered.

"That is the twenty four hour test he had to do to become a guardian." Marinette whispered. "The test he failed and set the temple on fire. That is when the miracle box and the Book of Lore got lost." She was explaining things as she saw them, quickly and quietly.

"You know you have to prevent him from doing that, do you?" Adrien whispered.

Marinette waved her head. She was not going to do that if that meant giving up on Adrien. She had to find another way to win this battle. And perhaps a war.

"We know where the miracle box is. We have to prevent them from going there." Marinette was completely determined about her ultimate goal. "That is our main mission here."

"But Marinette, My Lady? If you prevent master Fu from making his error, whatever it was." Adrien whispered.

"He said he was hungry and created a sentimonster." Marinette whispered back. She told him the story back in Paris, one afternoon while they followed someone around. She should have retold him that with more details.

"So, lets go to the kitchen and bring him some food." Adrien whispered.

"No" Marinette waved her head. Her guts were telling her that was not the right thing to do. Her heart was telling her that would mean she would somehow loose Adrien. She was aware that she was making the decision with her heart. It worked well the last time, so why not again.

"Marinette" Adrien whispered on her shoulder. "Do what you have to do. Don't mind me."

"No kid" she heard Plagg from the same direction. The kwami of destruction was hiding in his hood just like Tikki was in hers.

"She has to do it Plagg." Adrien whispered. "I think it is clear now."

"No, our main mission here is to prevent Hawk Moth from getting the miracle box. We have to do what we have to do. We. I need you for that. I can't have you disappearing on me again." Marinette whisper shouted to make a point.

That made Adrien fall silent at first.

"Everything for you My Lady." Adrien leaned in and hugged her, he pushed his face into her collar bone and shuddered.

They sneaked back into the large room.

"We should keep them busy and send them to a false trail." Marinette said scanning the surroundings.

Adrien got a spark in his eyes.

"I have an idea." he whispered and went off towards Hawk Moth directly.

"Adrien, what are you doing?" Marinette muttered, but he did not reply, he briefly glanced back with a smirk. Oh he had an idea all right. She put her hands on her hips. He was going towards Hawk Moth in his Chat Noir way. She waved her head. She better keep her eyes on Scarlet Peacock. But, she could not stop glancing towards Adrien to see what was he about to do.

Adrien approached the girl with a cockroach. He had to wait for her to take a breath between two screams.

"Why don't you try to hide behind that large man over there." Adrien turned her physically towards Hawk Moth and nudged her in his direction. The girl quickly ran around Hawk Moth. Her giant size cockroach followed her. Soon, Hawk Moth was busy shooing the student and her cockroach away. Adrien snickered. Nobody could hear him, there were too many screams and shouts in the room coming from students and their sentimonsters.

Adrien could see Hawk Moth was loosing his cool and snickered some more. He could hear Plagg laugh in his hood hidden below his ear.

"Great job, kid." Plagg praised the boy.

"I enjoyed it." Adrien smiled. "I just miss that I can't tease him about that."

"If you throw in your puns at Hawk Moth you would probably reveal your identity to him." Plagg warned.

"Possibly both my identities." Adrien sighed. He had to keep his Chat Noir teasing to himself this time.

Marinette was trying hard to keep Scarlet Peacock busy and away from one specific door. The villain had noticed the same light source and started walking in that direction. The girl was ready to do anything to stop her. She lead a student to stand in her way, her yelling sentimonster followed. But, Scarlet Peacock had fantastic reflexes and evaded every move. Marinette was considering using the commotion and throwing herself at the Scarlet Peacock to rip the brooch from her chest.

Instead, she looked around. Very close to her, there was a large spider taunting at one girl student. Marinette braced herself. The spider was hairy and she found it disgusting. She hated spiders. She really did. She steeled herself and took the few necessary steps. In one fluid motion, without stopping she grabbed the spider with her bare hands and threw it onto Scarlet Peacock from her back. The spider clutched onto her head and the Scarlet Peacock was startled enough to scream and shout. She removed the spider using the strength of her arms.

"You can control these creatures, Scarlet Peacock. Use your powers." Hawk Moth snarled from his position where he evaded a giant cockroach while a rather agile student always run in such a way to keep the man between herself and the monster. It was interesting how the fear made her strong and agile. She even surprised herself. She was finally not screaming. At least not the whole time.

Scarlet Peacock stopped and turned around. She concentrated and issued orders to the different monsters. Finally the cockroach was calmed down and the spider was back at the other student side to her utter dismay.

"Now, we will go out from this room and search for the miracle box. If you cant control them to search independently, then we shall go all together." Hawk Moth snarled. He had to suffer such incompetence. Doing a search as a group instead of distributing themselves around was such a waste of time.

"Come on, explain to them that they would get rid of their fears only if they find the miracle box for me." Hawk Moth snarled. He was loosing his patience.

Marinette and Adrien were substantially revealed by the turn of events. They all got out from the large room into the main hallway.

"He is controlling Scarlet Peacock." Marinette whispered as she caught up with Adrien. The boy simply wrapped his arm around her shoulder and kept her closer.

"Yeah, she is doing everything he tells her to. But, that is what she usually does." Adrien shrugged. He noticed the pattern between the two villains too, but he did not give it much significance because that was the same way the two interacted when they were in their civilian clothes going about their daily business.

"She gets a violet mask on her face when he gives her orders." Marinette whispered back.

"So he akumatized Mayura?" Adrien concluded.

"Just like he did with Chloe." Marinette replied.

They progressed slowly, entered a few rooms and winded several hallways and narrow corridors.

Marinette and Adrien did not have so good sense of direction as civilians but they both feared what they were about to reach. Somehow, they felt they were approaching, they felt they were close.

Hawk Moth entered a side room to search for the box inside. Most of the students and their monsters followed as Scarlet Peacock ordered them to do so. But the Scarlet peacock herself stayed in the narrow corridor so Adrien and Marinette decided to do the same.

Scarlet Peacock took a few steps more and winded another corner. Adrien and Marinette could both see a trace of light coming from that direction. So they followed.

Scarlet Peacock could peek through a small pigeon hole in the wall that was exactly at the height of her eyes. It was obvious the small hole was meant for someone supervising secretly what was going on inside the room. She could see the boy of about twelve years old and an octahedral box that she recognized as the miracle box. She smiled. She found it. She is going to solve this and Hawk Moth, no Gabriel Agreste, will love her for it. She had a plan.

Adrien and Marinette sneaked around her and then some more until they reached the entrance to the room.

The boy Fu has just transformed into a Peacock. The transformed boy plucked a feather and let it be absorbed in a staff he held in his hands. But then they saw where Scarlet Peacock peeked into the room. She produced a scarlet feather and blew it inside. The feather got absorbed in the same staff that the boy Fu held. He did not even notice as he concentrated to make his sentimonster.

"We have to prevent this." Adrien whispered.

Marinette waved he head.

"We can't, it is already done." she said solemnly barely trying to keep herself quiet as everyone was taken by the events that unfolded before them.


	63. Chapter 63 - The Fire

The Fire

Adrien and Marinette watched as the scarlet feather melted into the staff that the boy Fu held in his hands while he was trying to create a sentimonster that would bring him some food from the kitchen. He specifically imagined to get a few rice balls, but he was so hungry he would settle on almost anything. As he was moulding the sentimonster, he thought of rice balls, he thought of their taste in his mouth, he thought of how they would fill his aching belly. His belly already wailed painfully from hunger and the boy felt its emptiness as a throb of pain spreading through him.

At the same time, they could see the excitement in the eyes of Scarlet Peacock who peeked into the room through a narrow pigeon hole.

The sentimonster grew green and large and went wild.

"He wanted food, she wanted miraculous box and the miraculous stones." Marinette whispered.

"In the end they got a monster that was eating the miraculous stones." Adrien continued. Everything was starting to make sense now. It was not master Fu who created the monster all on his own. His inexperience has contributed to the fact that he did not understand that the monster was not only his own creation. He was not able to control it alone.

"If the monster was created by him alone, he would be able to control it." Marinette whispered.

But the boy Fu was not able to gain control over the sentimonster. Scarlet Peacock was an adult with much more experience in creating and guiding sentimonsters, so she could take over. Except the boy was still trying and failing to control it. And Scarlet Peacock had plenty of other sentimonsters she was supposed to control.

"And they said the temple modifies the powers." Adrien whispered and Marinette nodded.

The sentimonster jumped after the boy Fu who was still transformed in a Peacock. Scarlet Peacock ordered it to take the miracle box. Fu ordered it to go for the kitchen and get some food, or perhaps cook some food, or bring him some food, or cook the rice first because raw rice is inedible, and cooking meant fire so the monster went after fire. Fu was hungry and tired, it was difficult to think straight.

Fu got on his feet and tried to control the monster but the monster jumped after the miracle box. The boy jumped away holding the miracle box and the Book of Lore. He was on his feet running around just to escape the sentimonster that ran after him.

The sentimonster knocked over several fire torches. One fell onto the carpet and set it on fire while the other rolled over to a tapestry that quickly started burning.

The boy was looking for a way out. His head was shifting left and right until he saw the door that lead into the narrow corridor.

"We have to move." Marinette dragged Adrien away from the door. They were just barely hidden in the darkness when the boy Fu ran out from the room and looked frantically left and right to find a way to escape. Marinette walked backwards with Adrien behind her back. She wanted to stay away from Fu and give him a clear way out.

"Why don't we go for the box?" Adrien whispered.

"That is not our job to do here." Marinette replied. "We have to make sure he gets out safely."

Marinette and Adrien took a few steps back. Adrien could see Scarlet Peacock removed herself from the pigeon hole because of the flames that were licking their way out. But she was concentrated on the sentimonster she just contributed to create and she was trying to direct it to go after the miracle box. She did not see when Fu got out from the room, otherwise she would run up the narrow corridor instantly.

One monk approached Fu from the corridor on the other side. The boy Fu looked at him with panic in his eyes and outstretched his arms to give him the Book of Lore and the miracle box.

The monk approached closer and in the light of the fire, Adrien and Marinette could clearly see his face. The monk was Dorje, big and strong. He grabbed the Book of Lore and put it under his arm then he took the miracle box and held the box against his body with the same hand. He used his free hand to pull the boy along.

Feast, the sentimonster that was jointly created by Fu and Scarlet Peacock emerged from the room into a narrow corridor and chased after them. The monster was bulky and had to adjust its shape to navigate the narrow corridor. It's sides brushed the walls until it reached an opening in much wider hallway.

Adrien and Marinette followed Dorje who pulled Fu along through several winding corridors. The corridors were lit up with flame torches and the sentimonster flipped them all down. The torches would fire up a tapestry or a carpet, whatever it touched. The flames were licking the walls or spreading over the floor quickly. Thick smoke and air full of smell of burning and ashes filled the space, reducing visibility and filling up their lungs, making them cough.

The two teens followed as much as they could while they kept distance from the sentimonster, they both were wearing miraculous that Feast was searching for. They were on one end of the long and wide hallway that was already engulfed in flames. They could see Dorje pushed Fu through the main door and showed the Book of Lore and the miracle box into the boy's hands.

"Run" Dorje ordered. "Run and do not look back." he repeated his order. "I am going back inside for the others." The tone of his voice was determined and strong. There was no space for argument there. Dorje was sure his actions were right. And he was sure what he was supposed to do himself.

With those words, the strong young monk turned around and walked right back into the fire.

"We have to prevent Hawk Moth and Scarlet Peacock from following him out of the temple." Marinette was completely determined. Adrien could see that in her eyes, there was an internal fire in her eyes not just the fire reflected in them. She knew why she was there. She knew what was their mission in that time in the temple. They were not there to merely observe the events. This event did not require witnesses.

"Shouldn't you go and save yourself? You can restore all this, you know?" Adrien whispered as he tried to pull her towards the exit. He took a step and pulled on her arm, but she resisted. Why was she resisting? She was Ladybug, she could restore all this with her miracle cure. She had to take care of herself. She was supposed to go for safety. It was him who would to the (un)necessary sacrifice.

"I know." Marinette smiled, her face was completely peaceful and proud. "I already did." And with those words she slipped her hand out from his and ran back into the narrow corridor that was still dark as it did not catch the flame. She hoped he would go to safety himself, she could not push him out after Fu and return to do her job in time.

Adrien felt the flames lick his face as he ran after her. It was dark, he had to feel the walls to find his way. He was concerned that he would run into her or even step onto her or fall onto her again. Was she on her feet? Did she fall to the floor and he just passed by her. He tried to flick on his torch, but the panic in his fingers prevented him from doing that and it took several attempts until he did. The floor behind him was empty so he sighed and continued to go forward. He entered a wide room and then another hallway.

It took several scary moments while he was looking for her in the hallways. But when he finally caught up with her he caught her hand. The air they were breathing was warmer than the hand he held, but he felt relieved as his sense of touch reassured him that she was there. She smiled back.

"I am in this with you My Lady." he shouted. She ran away for a reason. She wanted to beg him to save himself but she knew that was wrong. She wanted to drag him out, but she knew they both had a task to do. Now they were deep in the temple and she just wanted to do her job.

As they walked, Marinette quickly turned and smiled at him to reassure both of them. He smiled back, as he could clearly see her smile that could lit up the room, except the room and her smile were lit up by the approaching flames.

They found Scarlet Peacock in the room where Fu was guarding the miracle box. The room was now completely on fire and filled with smoke. Scarlet Peacock was looking for something in vain.

"I sent the monster after him, if the monster did not get it then it must be here." Scarlet Peacock muttered as she searched through the room for the tenth time.

"She is here, we have to find the others." Adrien coughed through the smoke. He also did not have a death wish to enter the room. Adrien pulled up his onesie to cover his nose and mouth from the smoke and the heat.

Scarlet Peacock raised her face to look at them but the smoke and the fire prevented her from recognizing who was at the door.

The two teens were both coughing from smoke, they held their onesies over their faces. Their eyes were burning from smoke. Their lungs were burning from the hot air and smoke they inhaled. They barely reached around the corner when they ran into Hawk Moth.

If their eyes were not burning with smoke and if they were not coughing and holding their hands in front of their mouths and nose, they might have just raised their hands and strapped the pin off from Hawk Moth. But the narrow corridor was filled with smoke and their eyes got filled with tears as a reaction. And Hawk Moth was protected from their suffering due to the magical powers of his transformation.

Hawk Moth pushed them back. He saw Scarlet Peacock through the pigeon hole. He tried to control her with his telepathic abilities but he was getting some garbled response about her finding the miracle box that he decided to get physically there before he directed her out from the temple.

He reached the entrance to the room and saw Scarlet Peacock standing there and feeling around with her hands. She was trying to find the miracle box, but it was not there any more.

Hawk Moth strolled inside with all the confidence of a supervillain protected by a magic armour.

"What are you doing?" he shouted. Doing it face to face rather than mentally had its perks. Her brain was a mess as she was trying to do too many things at once and failing all of them.

"I was looking for the miracle box, it was in this room." Scarlet Peacock replied with composure and certainty.

"Then we should gather our search party here, don't you think?" Hawk Moth replied with a wicked smile. He was about to summon students and their magical sentimonsters into the room on fire and he had absolutely no concern for the safety of the students.

"That is our cue, My Lady" Adrien grinned and then coughed again. Why did he inhale so much smoke. He needed less air if he was not speaking.

Marinette nodded in return and turned to the approaching students and sentimonsters. Adrien and Marinette quickly pushed all the students into the room. They also pushed few sentimonsters inside.

Fortunately the cockroach went inside on its own following its student.

"You were supposed to be by my side." Hawk Moth snarled. If she was not doing things on her own, they might have succeeded together. On the other hand, he was supposed to be in control of her mind, but he was concentrated on searching the room and failed to check his mental communication.

"But." she protested "You can search through a room on your own." The mask on her face instantly glowed stronger. Hawk Moth was not going to take criticism from his akuma if he could help it (_and there were akuma when he did not, check Robostus_).

"You were supposed to be there and control these freaks." Hawk Moth shouted waving his arms and gesturing to the whole group.

"He is not in full control of her and she is not in full control of the sentimonsters. It must be the temple." Marinette whispered and then coughed violently.

"You can still run away and save yourself." Adrien whispered to Marinette between the coughs.

Marinette did not even try to talk back. Her eyes were already full of tears from the smoke. She simply waved her head.

Hawk Moth grabbed the hand of Scarlet Peacock and started to drag her out.

"But the miracle box, it was here." The Scarlet Peacock screamed.

"Well it is not here any more." Hawk Moth snarled. He let go of her hand and concentrated. A purple mask glowed stronger one the face of Scarlet Peacock.

"You and your monsters are going to lead us all out of here." Hawk Moth ordered.

Scarlet Moth obeyed and issued the order.

"We can always scavenge the remains for the miraculous stones, they are supposed to be indestructible." Hawk Moth shouted.

"We have to keep them inside." Marinette whispered and looked around. She was making the plan. Adrien was by her side to help.

Adrien caught one end of the burning carpet, Marinette pulled a burning tapestry that was flung over the side. They pulled both items along as they entered the room.

They blocked the way for the cockroach that was leading the way out and all the other monsters and students got stuck in the room.

"What do you think you are doing." Hawk Moth snarled at the group.

The two teens hid on the side where there were few things to burn and not so much smoke.

"We can't get out." someone from the group shouted back.

"We are stuck." another voice was heard.

Marinette pointed her hand towards the time travel sentimonster and coughed. She could not speak any more. Adrien went after the girl who was used to create the time travelling sentimonster. The girl was already on her knees coughing and gasping for breath. The air was so hot and full of smoke that it burned their lungs.

"Make her return us back to the future." Adrien shouted to Scarlet Peacock through the flames and thick smoke. His lady could not do this, she could not speak any more, he had to do this if he wanted her to live, if he wanted all these students to live, if he wanted to live himself, and, as a consequence Hawk Moth and Scarlet Peacock would live too (he was not entirely certain he wanted the last one just like he was not entirely sure the two villains would not survive the fire and go after master Fu and miracle box after that).

Hawk Moth heard that and snarled incomprehensible noise.

"No" Hawk Moth screamed. "No! We were so close." He was not ready to give up on chasing after the miracle box through the flames, the heat and the smoke, but he did not know where the box was. He even did not know for sure that the miracle box was in this room.

"We can do this again at some other time." Scarlet Peacock tried to reason with him. She was so close, she almost got the box for him. But she failed. There had to be another way. They would simply find some other way to attack.

"Plagg, would you be so kind as to make this slightly more persuasive?" Adrien sighed. He was taking a huge risk.

Plagg dropped to the floor in the darkness and whispered "Cataclysm". The walls started to crack and parts were about to crumble down.

"Very well, order her to bring us back to the future." Hawk Moth resigned. It was neither first time he had to give up on an attempt to get the miraculous. He knew when was the time for retreat.

Scarlet Peacock issued her orders and the time travelling sentimonster fired a light circling the room.


	64. Chapter 64 - Back to the Future

Back to the Future

One moment the temple was burning, the walls had cracks in them and parts of the temple were crumbling down. Then there was a flash of white light, not entirely unlike the flash one can see in films when someone is dying. And after that they were in complete darkness.

Adrien was down on his knees. He could feel the hard stone floor below his knees. He got his hands to the floor and felt it was cold. Where was he? When was he? What was this dark space? He was probably alive, but he was not sure when and where he was. Logic told him it should have been the same room in the same temple just at some different time. But he could not hear anything for a few frightening moments. He thought he was alone. He was scared his lady did not make it. His ears were deafened by the noise of the chaos they left and he needed some time to adjust. After about half a minute of hearing only his own heartbeat, he could hear some commotion around him.

"Cheese?" was the first word he recognized. The quiet sound came from the floor just in front of him. He patted with his hand until he got Plagg, smashing the little black cat god of destruction on the head tin the process.

"Hey" the kwami complained quietly. Adrien put his hand in his pocket and felt for some cheese. He got it and put on the palm of his hand where his kwami was sitting. When he felt that kwami picked up the cheese he put both in the hood of his onesie.

He knew now he was alive if his kwami was talking to him.

"Can you see her?" Adrien whispered barely audible.

The cheese was already gone before he reached to the hood so Plagg yanked his hair to turn his head and then he took the edge of his cap and pulled in one direction. Adrien crawled in that direction following Plagg. He coughed. His throat and lungs were still sore from hot air and smoke. He advanced on all four until he reached a person laying on the floor. Plagg stopped pulling. He placed his hands on the body in front of him. He felt what he recognized as her back and her shoulder. He leaned over and embraced her pulling her up to lean onto him. Was she alive? Was she breathing? His hand found her neck and her pulse. He breathed again. He felt movement of her shallow breathing in his arms. Then he felt her hands wrap around him. She was alive and she was conscious. He just held her like that for a few breaths holding her close and feeling the life inside her.

Marinette was not sure if she was alive or not, if she was conscious or not and she did not have the strength to go and find out. She was on the cold floor and wandered what happened to Adrien. Did he make it? Was he okay? She felt somebody put their hands on her, but she soon recognized the touch. Familiar arms enveloped her and pulled her close and she struggled to move her own arms and wrap them around him. Perhaps this was all just a nightmare and now she woke up in their sleeping bag. Except the floor was much harder. And she was not covered. Hm? Perhaps it was not a nightmare then. She remembered how Dorje led the boy Fu out from the temple giving him the book of Lore and the miraculous box. That was exactly how master Fu described the events to her, so they did not mess up, this was their timeline, the same one she was born in. It was not master Fu who created Feast and the havoc alone. Everyone had a role.

"Plagg, you can see, right?" Adrien whispered.

"Um, yes, it is me who gives you the night vision, remember?" Plagg muttered below his ear.

"She is okay, just dazed as much as you." Tikki whispered quietly. The little red goddess was recovering too.

"Can you see Hawk Moth and Scarlet Peacock." Marinette whispered back to Plagg. She was already ready for the next step. She wanted to ude the opportunity if there way one.

"Um, yes?" Plagg confirmed carefully.

"Can they see us? Perhaps we could sneak up to them and take their miraculous?" Marinette whispered. She did not want to go through something like that fire again. Oh no. She was going to end this, as soon as possible, as quickly as possible, the simpler the better.

"You are in no condition to do anything like that." Tikki warned quietly. The goddess was old, she understood how Marinette was thinking, she knew what they were just put through, but she had seen too much.

"They are quite well, I dare say you do not have a chance in your condition." Plagg agreed with Tikki. Being the only one who could see them clearly, he was even more confident than usual.

Adrien sighed, his lady had the best idea and now these two kwami would not help them. Really, this was the perfect opportunity, two supervillains barely touched by the disaster while protected by their magic suits against two night blind teenagers half deaf from the blast, dazed, confused and only a pinch dizzy (while not actually able to stand on their own feet).

"I think we are a bit deaf because of the blast, I do not hear them." Marinette whispered straight into Adrien's ear.

"Um, I think I can." Adrien replied. He concentrated. There was not much to hear, or to say it better, there was much to hear, but not much to understand.

He could hear voices and understand words, he could hear moaning and screams, he could hear some angry voices and then he could hear the shuffle from people and probably monsters moving all around them.

Hawk Moth and Scarlet Peacock had their own worries and experiences. They were both annoyed (to say the least) with the fact they felt as if they did not have complete control over their powers. Then they disappeared from a room filled with fire and noise into complete darkness and silence. It was mind numbing.

"You said there was a miracle box in this room." Hawk Moth reminded her of their previous conversation as if nothing in particular happened in the mean time. He was focused on his goal, and that one was to get the miracle box, or to be more precise, any miraculous he could get his hands on. He already had plans, he would create temporary supervillains. He already had several candidates for that purpose, willing and eager to help him out.

"Yes, I saw it. You have to believe me. I saw the miracle box exactly in this room." Scarlet Peacock spoke slightly in panic but trying to keep her composure. She was so close to fetching the box, she saw it in this very room. And she could get the miraculous of the Black Cat and Ladybug first, she might just have a little wish of her own. But she did not get them. She needed to do something different. There was the voice of Hawk Moth in her head mixed with her own thoughts. And mixed with all the signals from the different sentimonsters.

"Well then, let's look for it now." Hawk Moth said and put his hands on his back. He was not doing the manual labour, he had people who did that for him. He only engaged in fighting with Ladybug and Chat Noir and only if he absolutely had to. He sensed rather strange emotions from Scarlet Peacock and wandered what they were, he was determined to find out what they were so he pushed for further conversation. They argued for a while, her thoughts were so disorganized and her feelings conflicted and confused that he gave up in the end.

Hawk Moth issued to order to find the miracle box and everyone complied including Scarlet Peacock who started to walk around the room aimlessly while only her superpowers and enhanced agility prevented her from stumbling in the dark. Hawk Moth was determined to keep a closer eye on her and a violet mask glowed stronger on her face in the darkness.

"Get your sentimonsters too look for the miracle box." Hawk Moth ordered again and the sounds of different beings moving or stumbling around the room filled the air, including running into walls, squeaking and muffled screams. He could not see in the darkness, but the sounds did not reassure him nor testified about an organized and efficient search.

Scarlet Peacock was issuing orders again and again but there was not much response in what they could see. It was completely dark and neither Hawk Moth nor she had the night vision so they could not verify that anyone obeyed them. The noises were becoming louder and louder, the scratching and the screaming and from time to time, one of the monsters would run into them to their utter disgust.

"Well, have they found it?" Hawk Moth snarled, impatient and angry. This attack already lasted for too long, he was not used to getting into a fight himself and this one already did not meet up to his expectations one bit. However, he knew that his ultimate goal, the miraculous of the Ladybug and Chat Noir could be within his reach if he only returned in time again and he pushed Scarlet Peacock to make such sentimonster, a copy of his akuma. He wanted to go back again, but only if he was sure Scarlet Peacock really saw the miracle box, and the information he got from picking on her brain and her emotions were so garbled he could not rely on that for sure.

"Not yet, Hawk Moth." Scarlet Peacock answered quietly. She knew Hawk Moth could read her mind and she schooled herself in the usual timid self.

Hawk Moth felt something approach him and quickly evaded it and jumped to the side. Scarlet Peacock followed suite. It was the cockroach again.

"They just evaded that giant cockroach." Plagg reported. "They are very quick. I would say they did not get dazed by the blast."

"What are they doing?" Marinette asked annoyed she was so blind in the dark. She was holding on to Adrien and her head was tucked in his shoulder (just like his head was tucked into hers). They needed a minute like that to make sure the other one was okay before they were able to shift their perception back to their surroundings and plan what to do next.

"They are searching for the miracle box." Plagg shrugged. It seemed so logical. It was the only thing he expected the pair would be doing anyway. The tiny black cat did not even consider the question necessary, nor the answer. It was not likely that the two villains would change their minds. Or actually only one mind, because Hawk Moth had the mind of Scarlet Peacock under control (more or less). This was a kind of mess that even a wheel of Camembert would not resolve.

"The sentimonsters are sniffling around. The students are as bad as you if not worse." Plagg continued his report on the current conditions in the room. He was tempted to ask for more cheese as he could smell that Adrien had more, but decided to wait for a few more minutes for that.

Suddenly a pang of guilt washed over both of teens. There were students around them who got hurt, students who were not superheroes, students who were mere civilians. They should have protected them better. But how? And what to do now. They had to find them and examine them and help them, but it was dark and they could barely help themselves in this situation, and even that was possible only with the help of Plagg and his night vision.

"I think I still have a flash light in my pocket." Adrien whispered and unwrapped one arm as he went to reach for it. There it was, the solution to all their problems, he could turn on the torch and go around and examine other students. His plan was simple and perfect.

"Don't" Marinette and two kwami whispered in unison. It was obvious to Plagg that neither Hawk Moth nor Scarlet Peacock saw well in the dark, if at all. Tikki assumed the same since neither Dusuu not Nooroo had given such powers to their wielders in the past. Marinette, on the other hand, already had a different plan and she also did not want to attract additional attention to neither Adrien nor herself and flashing a torch would definitely attract the attention of everyone in the room.

"If you switch it on, then you are helping them." Marinette whispered. "Let's check the students carefully in the dark. This way they will not know what we are doing." Her plan was to use both kwami to examine the students and she could only do that in the dark, while neither the students nor Hawk Moth and Scarlet Peacock could see them. If a student saw a kwami they might sell the story it was their monster, but if any of the two supervillains in the room even glanced on any of the two kwami, they would know instantly they were much closer to their goal than they thought.

"And we could help. Right Plagg?" Tikki chipped in. She understood the plan. It was not as if Marinette or Adrien were trained triage nurses, both teens needed help in assessing the damage imposed on the students. Although, truthfully, the little red goddess of creation did not expect the students to be seriously harmed. The students have suffered as much as Adrien and Marinette and were probably only dazed and half deaf in the darkness.

Plagg expressed the level of his excitement by keeping silent.

"Do you think these students have any cheese on them?" Plagg teased. He had enough of this serious stuff, I mean, who wouldn't? He was up and ready to do some messing up with Hawk Moth and Scarlet Peacock in the darkness, it would be nice to do some teasing between the two, touch one here, touch the other there and step aside to see what happens. If you are not satisfied with the result, repeat the trick until they are either shouting insults at each other or all over each other, whatever works, Plagg would be fine. He was up to do some mischief as he just used the power of destruction, he was not much into that.

"Plagg" two teens and a kwami whispered in a way to keep him silent. They sincerely hoped that Plagg would not give himself away. Adrien was probably more worried as he knew how the little kwami was inclined to mischief. But they needed his eyes to assess the students, although he did not have a clue what to do with them if they were seriously injured. They did not deal with the injuries, Ladybug would induce her miracle cure and everyone was live and well. Perhaps they should escape the temple again only for Marinette to transform, call her lucky charm and induce a miracle cure? Well, they will deal with that if needed.

The two teens crawled from one student to the other, lead by Plagg while Tikki rested in Marinette's hood. Plagg hovered around each and every one of them. The students were all dazed and confused, but unharmed. One was screaming from time to time, because she was taunted by her sentimonster, another was sitting up dull and unresponsive.

"Physically, they are okay, but I really hope they will forget about this once this is all over." Marinette muttered to herself.

Adrien found her in the dark and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. He knew that the two of them would not forget, he did not want to forget, any of it, neither good nor the bad, he hoped they would live to remember.


	65. Chapter 65 - Here We Go Again

Here we go again

Hawk Moth was increasingly agitated. Gabriel Agreste was never the man for crowded and confined spaces, he even avoided his own fashion shows. He preferred to rule his empire from the security of his own secluded office in his own mansion. Now, he was in a dark room surrounded by dazed students and poorly coordinated sentimonsters. And he could not see them, he could hear their (annoying!) noises and he could feel them brushing against him when they passed too close, or as a better option, he could feel the swirl of air they produced as they moved swiftly. The problem was, this crew was useless. If nothing else, he was persistent, he did not become a fashion mogul because he gave up easily on his creations. But this time, he might be wrong. He let someone else create in his place. He was looking for magical stones and he had a cockroach to do the job. This was ridiculous, utterly ridiculous.

Scarlet Peacock could hear his voice in her head. He was loosing patience, he was furious, he was demanding and there was no way she would find a solution out of this. She muttered apologies and encouragements to calm him down. Inside her, she still mourned the opportunity to get the whole miracle box while the boy was watching it. She saw the boy. She saw the box. Why did not she go around, find the entrance to the room and just go for the box? Why was she trying to create yet another sentimonster while there were so many and she had poor control over them? She would order them to search for the miracle box, but spiders, cockroaches or slimy creatures from student's nightmares were poor tools to do such a task. Angry teachers, parents or other taunting personas were barely doing any better, as soon as they focused on the search, they became less scary and the connection to the student was loss, and, as a consequence, her own connection to the monster. She understood the problem, but she had no solution for it.

"Marinette" Adrien whispered to her ear. She hummed in response, she was listening to him.

"What was that about the scarf?" He asked about the scarf she got as a lucky charm in the cave. It bothered him. The lucky charm was supposed to be a clue how to fight, how to win?

"That was the sign to go after them." Marinette whispered. Perhaps there was more to it, but she did not read it completely. But everything seemed to fit the profile. She was not sure if she read it correctly, she was not sure about anything any more. It was nagging her in the back of her mind. There was something more to the scarf clue, but she simply did not know yet.

"To go after them as me and you?" Adrien whispered. Marinette nodded in response, she knew that he would feel her move even if he did not see her. Yeah, 'as me and you' but in their case 'me and you' is rather complicated formulation with multiple meanings.

"You are right Marinette." Tikki confirmed quietly. Adrien turned to the little goddess in the darkness. She was quieter than Plagg, but also always reassuring which he found really really nice and from time to time felt a pang of jealousy for not having such kwami. But sometimes, Plagg had his own way of reassuring him.

"What would you do if you got a piece of Camembert for your lucky charm?" Plagg could not help himself but ask. The situation was too serious for him. He needed some distraction not to go nuts. One needed that. No one wants the tiny god of destruction to go nuts. Just look for the extinction periods in the geological records.

Marinette, Adrien and Tikki could not help but snicker at his antics. And all three rolled their eyes. Plagg was always Plagg.

Hawk Moth sensed something from Scarlet Peacock and it was becoming clearer and clearer. In the darkness, her mind had no visual stimulant to process, so her brain went back to the last things she actually did see, the fire, the flames, the Feast sentimonster, the boy, the box … the box!

"You are right!" Hawk Moth exclaimed. "There was a box. We are going back!" He turned in the direction where he expected he would be facing Scarlet Peacock (and failed, giving Plagg further sense of satisfaction at the ridiculous situation).

"Where is that time travel sentimonster?" he demanded from the darkness before him.

Scarlet Peacock concentrated hard but her mind was a mess of a hundred different voices, some muttering, some screaming, but none of them made sense. It was much easier when she could actually see.

"Peacemaker" she called out loud. "Bring us back to the past!" she ordered. She might have also crossed her fingers for that to work because she was far from certain in anything any more.

Marinette hitched a breath.

"Oh no" Tikki muttered.

"No way." Adrien sighed.

Plagg groaned.

Marinette and Adrien jumped as one in the direction of the voice they could hear, the voice of the Scarlet Peacock issuing her orders for the time travel sentimonster. A beam of white light washed over them. In the flash they could see that Hawk Moth had his back turned towards the time travelling sentimonster and the rest of the room.

They landed on something soft. It was a layer of ash that covered the ground. It was dark, but there was faint moonlight peeking through a thin layer of clouds.

Marinette and Adrien stayed low and did not make a move. If they just stayed close to the ground, they could be mistaken for two rocks.

"What is this?" Hawk Moth asked incredulously. There was no room, no temple, no boy and no miracle box.

"I do my job well." Plagg muttered quietly while Hawk Moth was releasing his frustration. Adrien strained inside not to slap him lightly with his hand to shush the little black cat.

"Where are we, where is the temple?" he shouted to the dark skies above him but got no answer. He turned around and shouted the same question again and again until he got tired from it.

"I think we arrived in the time after the temple was destroyed." Scarlet Peacock said out loud although there was no need for that if she wanted to communicate to Hawk Moth alone. But he was shouting and getting his attention while he was in that mood was never easy.

"We are looking for the miraculous now. They must be somewhere here." Hawk Moth snarled in the still night air. There was nobody in particular he was frustrated at, at least nobody present (not that he knew). He just wanted to release his frustration from another disappointment, he expected to find himself next to a boy guarding a miraculous box, not at the remains of the temple. He sensed that Scarlet Peacock was distressed and her state was probably the reason why they missed the actual time he wanted to reach.

Hawk Moth walked around and flicked the ash with his feet. He had to make her work better.

"Scarlet Peacock, you are my best creation yet! But could you please deliver what is wanted from you?" he calmed down a bit and composed himself sufficiently to actually participate in the search.

"Search for the magic stones." Scarlet Peacock ordered. There was just the time travel sentimonster and the student who was used to create it. Not much of a search party to go through the ashes of a temple in the middle of the night (or maybe it was close to morning already).

Hawk Moth strolled around with his hands on his back kicking through the ashes that covered the soil all around. The moonlight was becoming stronger and stronger as the cloud dissipated slowly. He glared at the ashes below his feet as he wanted to see the glistening jewels of the miraculous kind.

The fact that he did no pay too much attention to anything that was not below his feet was just fortunate for Adrien and Marinette as they slowly retreated to a shadow of one rock to hide better.

"When are we?" Adrien asked quietly while Hawk Moth muttered further instructions for Scarlet Peacock and the other two entities he controlled.

"I would guess we are in the same night when the temple got destroyed." Marinette whispered.

"So Fu is not far." Adrien whispered.

"Mhm" Marinette waved her head.

Hawk Moth was making larger and larger circles. The half moon was high in the sky. It was possible to see the mountains covered with snow glistening in the distance. The sight was beautiful. Adrien sighed and wrapped his arm around Marinette pulling her even closer. It was cold to be outside in the middle of the night and sit still dressed in something meant for sleeping. The only thing that kept them from surrendering to the cold was the adrenalin pumping through their veins that peaked any time Hawk Moth or Scarlet Peacock approached closer.

But, when they were far enough, Adrien allowed himself to enjoy the scenery. It was so peaceful.

Marinette was planning, scheming and observing. As long as Hawk Moth and Scarlet Peacock were both here on this plateau, Fu had a chance to escape, but if they saw him, if they went after the boy, they were running after them.

Adrien and Marinette would be caught if they tried to crawl away, the moonlight was just too strong. The two villains would have to leave the top of the cliff first. She was not even sure in which direction she should look for the steps.

"Plagg, would you mind doing some scouting?" Marinette proposed. It was a good idea, the little black cat god could see in the dark very well and could easily tell them in which direction are the steps that winded on the cliff face and lead to the temple and where to go to find that cave they always hid in while transforming.

Plagg floated in front of Marinette, his eyes glowed in the moonlight, but they glowed with something Adrien knew well, they glowed with mischief.

Tikki looked at her old friend with worried eyes, but just when she was about to warn her chosen, someone else beat her to it.

"Nope, that is not a good idea." Adrien cut in. "You do not know Plagg."

"You insult me." Plagg was sulking.

"He knows you really well." Tikki teased.

"Hm" Marinette put a finger over her mouth. "I am not sure if I should trust you that much then." She pretended to contemplate.

"Remember Kwamibuster?" Adrien slightly shook her shoulder.

"That was my moment of weakness. I mean, who in their right mind could resist the call of that perfect smelly chunk of cheese?" Plagg retorted.

Tikki looked at him with her paws on her hips.

"Well, I guess you have proven I can't trust you then." Marinette removed the finger from her chin.

"You can trust me. Tell me what you want me to do." Plagg practically begged for her trust.

"Hm. I'd like you to float in one big circle and find the direction of the steps that lead to the temple and the way we used to take to that cave. And if you can, try to notice how far master Fu went." Marinette whispered her instructions.

"No big deal, Pigtails." Plagg floated away quickly.

He was fast, he was really fast, he was back in a minute.

"Steps are in the direction straight towards the Moon." Plagg reported. "the path to the cave begins at nine o'clock if the Moon is twelve." he continued and then he sighed. "And I saw master Fu, he really did not get very far, but he still had the book and the miracle box."

"You know these directions will be meaningless in a few hours, don't you, Plagg" Adrien teased.

"We can't go there, they will see us, they are really close to the steps now." Marinette whispered as she peeked around the rock to see the two supervillains better.

"Sssh, they are talking, Plagg could you eavesdrop?" Marinette asked quietly.

Both supervillains were standing on the edge of the cliff looking at something in the distance. They talked excitedly and it was possible to hear them in the silence of the night.

"Do you see something moving down there?" Hawk Moth asked. "Now it is in the shadow." he said slightly later. "There, right there, is that the boy with the miracle box you saw?" Hawk Moth demanded.

"I see something moving, someone." Scarlet Peacock exclaimed the moment she recognized what was expected from here.

"We go down there and see who it is!" Hawk Moth ordered and they went down the steps.

The moment they were out of sight, Marinette counted to thirty.

Adrien did not count, he jumped to his feet and Marinette yanked him back down as she counted.

After that, they both ran to the direction of nine o'clock.

They arrived to the small cave on autopilot, the path was already stored in their muscle memory.

Plagg demanded a piece of cheese but Adrien transformed instantly. He was outside the next second scanning the area with his night vision. Staying untransformed in the darkness was truly testing his patience.

Ladybug followed only moments later.

"Fu is there." Chat Noir pointed his finger. "He is struggling in the dark. We should go down there and help him out." He raised his other hand to pull Ladybug closer and point her in the right direction but his arm just passed through Ladybug.

"I guess this means we are not doing any such thing." Ladybug replied and then went to poke his nose. Adrien sighed as he reigned to give up on his idea and Ladybug touched his nose with her index finger. "Good." she concluded. "No messing up with Fu."

"Let's find those two then." Chat Noir said and jumped from one rock to another making as little sound as possible. Ladybug followed.

Hawk Moth and Scarlet Peacock were moving fast, they were already at the bottom of the cliff. Ladybug wrapped her yoyo around one jagged rock and they both jumped holding hands. She allowed them safe and soundless landing using her yoyo and then retracted it.

"We have to sop them." Ladybug spoke quietly.

"We have to stop them before they reach Fu." Chat Noir repeated. Ladybug went to pat his shoulder and her hand went through. She waved her head.

"I need you for this Chaton." she whispered. "We have to stop them." she patted his shoulder. "When they reach Fu." she tried again and Chat Noir was tangible. He hand did not go through.

"This is going to be tight." Chat Noir replied as they started to run after the two supervillains.


	66. Chapter 66 - Making Pastry

Making Pastry

Ladybug and Chat Noir were chasing the two supervillains in the dark of the night, lit up only by the half moon rising high in the sky. Hawk Moth and Scarlet Peacock were not far ahead, but Ladybug insisted on keeping the distance.

"We could be on them, My Lady" Chat Noir whispered once more when Ladybug urged him to stop and keep the distance from the two supervillains ahead of them.

"Chat." Ladybug whispered painfully. It was really difficult for her to concentrate on the task and not succumb to her worries and feelings. "Your own existence depends on us timing this correctly." Her hands were trembling when she grabbed his forearm. She could feel his presence, he was there.

"The existence of Adrien Agreste depends on it. I am sure there would be a different Chat Noir." Chat Noir spoke quietly and solemnly as he turned his eyes away from her. She was breaking in front of his eyes. She was crumbling, her shoulders low, as if she was becoming smaller. He could see her eyes searching their surrounding frantically, he could see in her eyes she was looking for a way out of this. She wanted to keep him and it made his heart melt, but more and more, he was sure he was not going to get out from this one. If only she would understand that, if only she would accept, they would win, and although he would be removed from existence, he would still live in her memories and that was enough for him.

"I can't have that." she whispered. Her heart was aching. How to make him understand. "I do not want to fight for a world without you in it." she whispered. And that was the truth. She did not want to. She had a duty, yeah, and she would perhaps still do it, but she would not want it. Because she stubbornly refused to believe that there was no other solution. There had to be a solution that would not remove Adrien from the history.

"But, you have to Bugaboo." Chat Noir cooed as he pulled her into his arms gently. "You have to. It is your duty as Ladybug." he reminded her. She was warm and it felt safe to hold her. He wished he had more time with her. The last ten days of his life made his whole life worth living. He knew now what it meant to be happy. She made him happy. He was told so many times that knowing her identity or revealing his own identity was a disaster, that he would have to give up on his miraculous. But, he was not in the mood to live a life without the miraculous and without knowing who she was any more, because the only life 'without a miraculous' he knew was the life he lived before his miraculous and before he went to school. Although that life included his mother, he was not willing to live it again.

Ladybug was practically hanging on him, she could not find the strength in her to go on if that meant giving up on Chat Noir, if that meant giving up on Adrien. And not the 'he is in love with another girl' way of giving up, but giving up completely. It would be as if he never existed. Would she ever remember him? Would she be the only one who ever remembered him? Then she remembered Chat Blanc, she remembered that event, he did not, nobody else did, except perhaps Bunnix, or Alix, but not yet, at some further point in the future and she knew what suffering those memories alone meant for her. She had to find the way to keep Adrien in existence. She had to find a way. She had to explain to him how awful that future was for her.

"I do not want to live in the world where I would be the only one who remembered you. " She whispered through her tears.

Chat could not help but shed a tear too. It was not about himself. It was not about the fact that he never existed. Because he did in this timeline and he learned what happiness meant to him. He was not sad because of his eventual disappearance. He could not imagine the loneliness that Marinette would feel if she remembered him and nobody else would. What if it was the opposite. What if he remembered her? What if he was the only one who remembered her? He would not be able to mourn her loss. That would be crushing him.

Suddenly, she straightened up, she knew what to say.

"Chat." she whispered against his chest. "If there would be another Chat in the place of one wielded by Adrien, then why is he not here when you start disappearing?" she asked quickly "There is always a Chat Noir to every Ladybug, and there is nobody replacing you as far as I can see."

"Um uh?" he was a bit confused.

"I need someone by my side to fight them, you can't fight anyone if you are in that holographic state. And there is no other Chat Noir appearing when you start to disappear." Ladybug whispered.

And at that moment Chat Noir straightened up too. He will stand up next to his lady, whatever she decided to do.

"Okay, we do this together then." he whispered. They continued to chase after the two supervillains. Hawk Moth and Scarlet Peacock were approaching dangerously close to Fu already.

Ladybug threw her yoyo, it wrapped around Hawk Moth and she yanked him down. The villain was surprised and caught off balance so he stumbled slightly and stopped. But he was quick to recover and turn around.

"Great." Ladybug muttered. That was her plan. To stop them. To at least slow them down so they would not catch the boy Fu and take the book and the box. She knew she had to let them get close, but she also knew they should never get the Book of Lore nor the miracle box. Because then Hawk Moth would have the Chat Noir's ring and Ladybug's earrings.

Scarlet Peacock did not waste a moment as she threw her fan after Fu.

"No" Chat screamed as the fan was flying towards the boy. He extended his baton guickly to trip the boy so the fan could pass over his head

The boy got his into his knees, from the back and instinctively threw himself on the ground. The peacock brooch hit a rock as he splayed on the ground, the book fell from his hand and the box tumbled away.

The fan flipped from the large rock and a small avalanche of gravel started to fall. Scarlet peacock had no problems catching back her fan as it bounced off the rock. Chat Noir jumped after the boy Fu. But it was dark, the boy was scared. The boy did not recognize the heroes and the villains in the darkness. What he saw were dark shadows in the night chasing after him.

Scarlet Peacock threw the fan after Fu again and Chat Noir deflected it with his staff. He positioned himself between the boy and the two villains determined to defend the boy with any means possible.

Fu quickly got to his feet and searched the surrounding for the book and the box. He barely collected both and started running away from the demons chasing after him in the darkness. These demons must have been after him because of his mistakes, because he created the monster that set the temple on fire, because he caused the disaster and the temple was lost. He had friends in that temple, there were monks who were teaching him, there were other monks who were taking care of him. There was one large and strong monk who helped him get away. There were other trainees in that temple, other kids just like him. He saw their faces before him the whole way as he was running away. Those faces smiled at him. Those faces were haunting him. In his mind, he covered those faces with cloth so he would not see them any more. Now he was chased by faceless ghosts. Although it was bad, it was scary, it was more bearable than the way he felt while he was chased by the faces he knew.

Hawk Moth got untangled from the yoyo and turned towards Chat Noir and Fu. He did not care about Ladybug right then, Fu was far easier target to beat, and if he was right, the box the boy held contained the miraculous of Ladybug and Chat Noir as well as all the other miraculous jewels. He would be able to do whatever he wanted. He would have been the new guardian and all the little gods would obey him just like Nooroo did, as his kwami was just like his little slave. He thought of all the power he would obtain, of all the powers stored in different miraculous jewels. And all that power was just within his reach, held in the hands of a mere boy running away from him in the darkness.

"Lucky Charm" Ladybug threw her yoyo in the air and got a large chunk of fresh dough in her hands. It was red with black spots as her lucky charms always were, but it was fresh dough alright.

"Getting ready to make some pastry, My Lady" Chat Noir could not help himself but tease. At least he resisted to tease her about her parents being bakers. The opportunity was so good, but then he would jeopardize her identity and he did not want to do that.

She looked around and saw Chat and his baton and the fan as Chat just deflected another attack that Scarlet Peacock threw at Fu. Hawk Moth was going after the boy too and Ladybug quickly launched her yoyo after the villain again. She had to keep him away from the boy just for a little while. Perhaps she would be able to do just that.

But Hawk Moth threw his staff after the boy, the staff hit his legs and Fu fell again.

The box fell on the ground and shattered open. The miraculous fell out from the box on the bare soil, they were glistening in the dark night, lit by the moonlight.

The book flew away from his hand and fell somewhere far in the darkness, it was in some pit hidden from the moonlight and only Chat could see it.

The boy Fu fell on the gravel, the brooch got tangled in the stone and ripped off from his clothes as he was getting up. Fu quickly collected the miraculous jewels from the ground as he could spot them reflecting the light of the moon above his head.

Chat Noir was distracted as he watched Fu fall down, loose his book and drop the box that released all its contents on the bare ground.

Ladybug yanked Hawk Moth backwards with all her might using him to propel herself forward.

"Chat, fetch" She threw the large chunk of dough in front of Chat anticipating the next move from the other villain. And she was right. Scarlet Peacock threw her fan again and it landed in the dough, only a piece of the fan was sticking out. The dough with the fan inside hit Chat so hard he flew a few metres back and landed on his butt, hard.

"Chat, cataclysm it" Ladybug ordered as she landed between Chat Noir and the two villains.

Fu collected as many miraculous as he could find, he was not sure how many, perhaps he miscounted, there was no time to double check. He was not entirely sure how many he was supposed to collect. One miraculous was supposed to be attached to his clothes so he counted one less from the number he computed perhaps that was the difference. How many were supposed to be in the box, did he place them correctly? He had no time for such trivial questions. He had to run and he had to do that fast. There were monsters lurking in the darkness and going after him.

Chat Noir summoned cataclysm and destroyed the fan and the dough.

A violet butterfly flew out.

Scarlet Peacock transformed into Mayura, dazed and confused, but standing on her own two feet. Chat Noir could clearly see her. She would be ready to fight in no time. Fortunately, she did not have her fan any more.

Back on the top of the cliff, one sentimonster disappeared leaving a confused and scared student alone.

"My Lady, the butterfly." Chat Noir warned and pointed his clawed finger after it.

Ladybug unwrapped her yoyo from Hawk Moth and quickly launched it after the butterfly. She had to catch it before the villains attack her. But she could not see the dark butterfly very well in the night and the only orientation was what Chat told her. She simply threw her yoyo after his voice and it took several attempts to catch it.

Hawk Moth and Mayura ignored the superheroes and went after Fu.

"They have used their powers, they will be easy targets soon, but we have an even easier target now." Hawk Moth was already celebrating his victory. "And the prize that awaits us there is considerably larger. Go after that boy, Mayura, he has the miracle box."

And both supervillains ran after Fu almost catching up with the boy.

"He lost the book, and the miraculous of the Peacock and the Butterfly." Chat Noir exclaimed as he quickly went after the lost items and attempted to retrieve them. His night vision enabled him so he could clearly see the book in the dark hole somewhat in the distance and he went for the two miraculous first. But the moment his hand was about to pick up the two jewels from the ground, he discovered he couldn't do that. He tried and tried again but his claws and even his hand would simply pass through the soil.

Hawk Moth and Mayura were just about to land on the boy Fu in their next jump.

Ladybug threw her yoyo in the air.

"Miraculous Ladybug" she called. A swirl of Ladybugs washed over them.

Ladybug disappeared.

Chat Noir, still trying to pick up the two jewels from the ground disappeared.

Hawk Moth, mere centimetres from landing on the boy Fu disappeared.

Mayura, in the middle of her jump, metre behind Hawk Moth disappeared.

Back on the top of the cliff, where the temple used to lay, one lonely and scared student disappeared.

The only one who was left in the darkness was a boy, about twelve, clutching to the box in this arms, running away as fast as his feet would take him.

Two jewels were left on the bare ground. They glistened in the moonlight. There was no sound around them. There was nobody to take them. Metres away, in a small dark pit beside a stone, a book was lost. These items would wait there to be found and complete the cycle of history.


	67. Chapter 67 - The Escape

Escape

When the miraculous ladybug cure was utilized, Ladybug, Chat Noir, Hawk Moth and Mayura all disappeared from the scene of the battle, the only one left was master Fu when he was a boy.

Ladybug materialized standing on the bare ground. She looked around. It was dark. It was still night. But which night? She hoped she returned to the time she left. There was no moon to make the night slightly less dark. She was surrounded by the darkness. She could feel the bare soil below her feet and the fresh air she breathed told her she was outside. She instinctively spread her arms around her only to find the empty air. There were no stars in the sky as it was cloudy night. One look around has revealed faint light in the distance. It was the light the solders kept in front of the main entrance to the temple. She looked at it as if it was a beacon that would carry her home. So she returned to the time she left. Her miraculous ladybug cure worked. But first, where was Chat Noir? Where was Adrien? Did she manage to do it right? Did she do her miraculous ladybug just in time? If she did, then Chat Noir should be here. Two supervillains too. She was careful and silent.

And then her earrings beeped.

Chat Noir appeared in the same landscape, but with no moon and stars in the sky. He could clearly see Ladybug close by in the direction of the temple. He quickly recognized the temple and the surroundings, his night vision really making a difference. He scraped the ground for the miraculous of the Peacock and the Butterfly that he was trying (in vain) to pick up from the ground just moments before, but the ground was empty. He looked in the direction where the book fell, and there was nothing. He sighed. He was not able to pick up the miraculous from the ground because his hands were just passing through, as if he faded from existence each time he tried to reach for the jewels that fell on the ground.

His highly sensitive cat ears picked up another sound. It was the sound of movement from behind his back. Right. If he was here and his lady was here then Hawk Moth and Mayura were definitely here too. They were attacking the boy Fu and were about to take the miracle box from the boy. He turned around swiftly, the boy Fu was not there. There, in the darkness, he could see the two dazed villains clearly, and none of them had the miracle box.

Hawk Moth and Mayura were both confused by the sudden change in scenery. They have in fact moved 175 years forward in time, back to the moment from which the time travelling sentimonster took them. They could see the light in front of the camp and they knew where and when they were.

"Both of our enemies are somewhere in the dark. They both used their powers and should detransform soon." Hawk Moth spoke quietly.

"We should be able to get them easily once they detransform, sir." Mayura replied.

Chat Noir overheard the conversation and was painfully aware that they were right. He however, had an advantage, his enhanced senses, he could see in the dark, he could hear each of their steps, and he could, unfortunately, smell many things. When Ladybug's earrings beeped Chat Noir could hear something was flying in their direction. It was too late for him to use his staff and rotate as a shield. He ducked and jumped towards Ladybug. He grabbed her by her knees and she fell down on top of him. They fell to the ground and rolled away while Hawk Moth's stick flew just over them.

"What the ..." Ladybug muttered. For a split second she felt as if she was attacked, but right the next moment she was aware it was Chat Noir who tackled her. She even expected he might do something like that in case of an attack. She trusted him and his senses.

"Hawk Moth, he threw his stick at us." Chat Noir whispered. He was grateful she did no fight him back. Anyone else would. He imagined being tackled in the dark by someone, without warning, would he recognize it was her so easily? But that was his lady, she knew it was him.

"I'm glad you are okay." she whispered. The relief she felt spread through her body and the tension she felt released in one long, but quiet, sigh.

"I'm glad for you too." Chat Noir replied and grinned in the darkness. She could not see his face, but his eyes glowed at her and she smiled back. She knew he saw that.

The stick Hawk Moth threw returned to him like a boomerang.

Chat Noirs ring beeped.

"They can locate us by the sounds we make." Ladybug whispered and pushed him so both of them could roll away on the ground.

"We have to run and hide before we turn into pumpkins." Chat Noir quickly rolled her away from another potential projectile.

"Did she get her fan back?" Ladybug asked.

"She is still looking for it. I could go and get it." Chat Noir already wanted to move in that direction. "But it is much closer to them and Hawk Moth got his stick back, it rotated and returned like a boomerang."

Chat deflected a stick that flew in the direction of the superheroes.

Her earrings beeped.

Ladybug squinted her eyes towards the temple. It was far. Too far. Perhaps too far. That was further than any other object at which she ever launched her yoyo. Much further. Did her yoyo have a limit? Well she was about to find out.

His ring beeped.

She threw her yoyo in the distance and waited for it to latch onto something.

And waited.

And waited.

After the time that seemed like an eternity while it would be measured in seconds she felt the chord of her yoyo tighten.

"Use your staff as a shield, Chaton." she whispered and grabbed him by his waist.

Her earrings beeped.

Chat deflected the fan.

They flew away pulled by the string of her yoyo.

His ring beeped.

He deflected the attacks of Hawk Moth and Mayura while they were speeding up towards the temple. He rotated his staff as a shield and both weapons that supervillains threw at them would deflect from it. But he winced every time. Deflecting a magical weapon was far more tricky than deflecting normal objects.

Her earrings beeped.

He deflected another attack from the flying fan using his staff. In the darkness he could clearly see the two supervillains were in not hurry, they were not even running after them. They were waiting. Hawk Moth and Mayura waited for the transformations of Ladybug and Chat Noir to wear off. In the meantime, they attacked with their weapons.

His ring beeped.

Hawk Moth threw himself forward and launched his stick from his hand while Mayura did the same with her fan. Now they were attacking simultaneously, the sound of Chat Noir's ring giving them orientation where to throw their weapons.

Chat Noir and Ladybug were pulled by the chord of her yoyo through the air quickly, but it seemed so slow. Because the minutes were passing quickly. And they had to reach the cliff before they detransformed.

"Come on." Ladybug pulled on the chord to move faster, but they were already whooshing through the air swiftly and there was not much more space to speed up. She held the chord with one hand and pulled Chat Noir by his waist with the other, she held him tight, he was her shield in this escape. As always.

Chat Noir saw both projectiles heading their way clearly as well as he could hear the swoosh of air they were making. With an expert move and rather extended staff he managed to deflect them both in one swift move.

They were approaching close to the cliff on the top of which sat the temple.

"We should land somewhere on the cliff." Ladybug muttered.

Her earrings beeped the last warning. The chord of her yoyo disappeared as they flew through the air. There was nothing pulling them and they started to fall. Chat Noir quickly grabbed her with his left arm. The flash of her transformation lit up the air, but Chat already turned to protect her from being seen as much as he could.

Marinette caught exhausted Tikki mid air as she knew exactly where her kwami would appear. She did not need to see her. It was a practised move. They were already very far from Hawk Moth and Mayura. The two villains needed time for their weapons to return before they could launch their next attack.

He extended his baton to reach the ground below them to slow down their fall and then he instantly pushed them towards the cliff that was really close. If Tikki held on to the transformation for only half a minute more they would have landed on the cliff. He held Marinette close to his body and his feet barely touched the surface of the stone as he landed not a moment too soon as the green light of his transformation started to wash over his limbs. It was Marinette who pulled him closer to the cliff and push him down as she laid her body over his.

They both crashed into the stone and their bodies were aching, but they knew they had no time to feel the pain. Adrenaline was high and that was the strongest painkiller they ever experienced.

"They must know that we have both detransformed and they know where we are, I am sure they saw your flash." Marinette warned.

"Cheese." Plagg whined from his position where he sat at Marinette's back.

"You really could not hold on any longer, Plagg?" Adrien brushed him off sitting up, he took his little kwami with one hand while he reached for the cheese with the other.

"There you go Tikki, recharge." Marinette got to her feet and simply put Tikki in her pocket where she kept the cookies.

Adrien flipped the cheese in the air and Plagg annihilated it.

"Ready?" Adrien asked.

"What is the hurry? One needs peace for their meal to settle." Plagg retorted. Adrien already rolled in a small hiding place that he could find, he hoped the second transformation light would not be visible.

"Plagg, claws out!" Adrien called.

Marinette pulled him down and tried to hide the flash of green with her body.

The next second Chat Noir was on his feet lifting Marinette off the ground and extending his baton. They were rising in the air in no time, he landed on one rock and then jumped further on the next one, he was not going so much up as to the side, he was trying to get Marinette to a safe distance so she could transform. And he knew that somewhere on that height he should find that cave where they used to hide and transform.

Meanwhile, Hawk Moth and Mayura just launched their weapons when they both could see where the two superheroes were.

"Yes." Hawk Moth celebrated and raised his fist when he saw the first transformation light. The pink light that shot in the distance when Ladybug detransformed in Marinette. But because Chat Noir was facing Hawk Moth and Mayura, they could not see who appeared in the place of Ladybug.

"Her weapon is lost too, they must be falling." He glowed with wicked joy.

"Excellent." Mayura celebrated with him. They both jumped from one rock to another even faster than before.

"His transformation should disappear soon." Hawk Moth continued. He knew the weapons they just threw at the heroes were probably going to miss since their targets abruptly changed their trajectory downwards.

A green transformation light answered his question.

"It is much lower than the height where Ladybug detransformed." Mayura noted.

"He might have detransformed before they even landed." Hawk Moth clenched his fist and sped up.

"If he did that means they ..." Mayura started.

"Are totally defenceless, we just have to find them and pick up their miraculous." Hawk Moth grinned wickedly in the darkness.

"I do not see the teleportation gateway anywhere, do you?" Mayura asked while she looked around. She half expected other heroes might pop up from somewhere.

They reached the spot where the two heroes landed and searched it in the darkness. They could not see much so they scanned the area.

"Where are they?" Hawk Moth snarled.

"They could not get very far. Not detransformed. Nobody can climb this surface in the dark" Mayura reasoned.

"They must be somewhere here. Hiding." Hawk Moth continued to jump from one rock to another and kick at different objects with his feet expecting to find something other than stone, something alive, somebody, and to be more precise, two detransformed and defenceless superheroes.

Chat Noir found the cave and carried Marinette inside.

"Are you okay, Princess?" Chat Noir whispered gently as he let her feet on the ground. "We landed pretty hard over there."

"I'm okay Chaton. How long can Plagg hold your transformation, it is not like you gave him any time to rest." Marinette chided softly.

"That glutton got so much cheese on the way over here without doing much work that I am surprised he has any space left for more cheese." Chat Noir waved his head. "On the flight over here he phased all the way to the business class and annihilated their stock of cheese."

Marinette snickered to that and put her hand in her pocket to get Tikki out. The little goddess was still munching on her cookie.

"Tikki" Marinette called as she could not see her in the dark.

"She is still eating, let her be." Chat Noir smiled to the kwami. "She is so cute while she eats." he smiled some more and softly patted Tikki on the black spot on the top of her head. Tikki smiled back to him although she could not see him.

"You do not think your kwami is cute when he eats?" Marinette asked half joking.

"Have you seen him?" Chat Noir asked incredulously. "I mean it is a whole new level of gluttony."

"At least he is efficient." Marinette noted. They both agreed the same even without words. They did not want to say the words out loud and possibly hurt Tikki's feelings. If Plagg was not eating so fast, Adrien would not be able to transform into Chat Noir so quickly and let them run away. Tikki understood their silence and appreciated it. She munched on her cookie in silence.

"I'm ready." Tikki whispered.

Marinette took a step back.

"Tikki, spots on." she called and transformed into Ladybug.

Chat Noir watched her transformation with mouth and eyes wide open.

"I'm glad I had the luxury of admiring your transformation this time My Lady." Chat Noir grinned.

"Well, I'm glad you did. But now, we go after them." Ladybug announced and grinned back although she could only see his eyes in the darkness.


	68. Chapter 68 - Seriously

Note: I was on a protest today … sorry for the delay.

68 Seriously

After the narrow escape from Hawk Moth and Mayura, Chat Noir and Ladybug are hiding in the cave, freshly transformed.

"We are going after them." Ladybug repeated to Chat Noir since he did not produce any reaction the first time.

"Seriously?" Chat asked.

"Seriously!" Ladybug confirmed.

"What's the plan?" Chat Noir shrugged with a huge grin on his face. He was tired of waiting for them to attack.

"No plan. We are going after them." She shrugged back to the darkness. She could only see his green eyes slightly glowing in the dark.

"Just like that?" Chat Noir was puzzled. It was not like his lady to go into an attack without a detailed plan.

"The goal is to strip the miraculous from them, nothing more and nothing less." Ladybug warned.

"No lucky charm?" he asked, just in case, perhaps she forgot?

"No, and no cataclysm too, unless absolutely needed, we need time." she warned again.

"Okay then, what are we waiting for?" he teased. She rolled her eyes at him since she knew he could see the act and after that they both walked out.

"We should go where you detransformed." Ladybug whispered.

"I bet they are looking for us there." He winked.

"Yeah, we should test if we can we use our communicators here?" she asked as she retrieved her earpiece from her yoyo and put it into her ear.

He retrieved his earpiece from his baton and put it into his ear. Ladybug spoke the 'test' word.

"It works." he exclaimed upon the test.

"It works when we are this close." Ladybug warned. But he did not listen, he already vaulted away.

Ladybug sighed and jumped after him.

Chat Noir enjoyed the chase. He imagined himself jumping out from the darkness and snatching the pin off from Hawk Moth. He could sneak up to him. He had night vision. He hopped from one rock to the other, until he saw them.

Chat Noir laid low and watched.

Ladybug was not yet there, nor at his tail. In fact he could not see her following him at all. Perhaps she took a different route or something?

"Ladybug." he whispered, but there was no response from her. He was too taken by the sight in front of him to worry too much about that. Sooner or later Ladybug will join him.

Hawk Moth snarled as he kicked rocks with his feet. If he was not transformed, his feet would be aching and his toes would be broken, but the supervillain could kick the rocks with his feet and hit them with his stick, stomp them and jump them as much as he wanted and not get hurt.

Mayura was following the same suit, although she used her fan. Sometimes they would hit so hard to break little pieces of rock off from the cliff face and the gravel would slid down the face of the cliff, bouncing of the jagged obstacles on the way.

It was obvious they did not see very well, they did not have the night vision and the light was poor.

The clouds have revealed the moon that was very low on their side of the cliff.

In the meantime, Ladybug was reminded she did not have the night vision in the worst possible way. She called Chat Noir using her earpiece, but he was obviously too far or the range of the device was too short in this area with poor network coverage. Whatever the reason, Chat Noir did not respond. She opened her communicator and wanted to call him. Calling him on the baton might reveal his position (and existence) to the two supervillains they wanted to surprise. So she gave up. She used the light from her communicator to see where she was going, but decided to close it after about few jumps as she decided it would have given her away if she kept using it. So she jumped blindly from one rock to the next, hoping beyond hope not to injure herself. The moonlight did not lit up her side of the cliff and she did not know how far were the supervillains. So she proceeded slowly and with caution.

Chat Noir suddenly became aware he was watching his own father and his assistant, Nathalie, who was sort of a replacement for his lost mother. Ant those two people were smashing rocks down there. At first, he thought they were just releasing their anger on the local geological forms, but their conversation clarified what they were doing.

"No trace of them." Hawk Moth snarled and hit another piece of stone breaking it off from the cliff.

"Perhaps they have not even reached the cliff." Mayura replied trying to stare down in the darkness.

"They were already very close to the cliff when she detransformed." Hawk Moth hit one more stone and jumped to the next one and hit it with his stick. "And they were high." He turned around and hit with his stick everything around him as far as he could reach from the place where he stood. "They were very high." He jumped to another position and almost slipped.

Chat Noir slowly realized, they were not releasing their anger by hitting the stones. They were looking for him and Ladybug, well actually searching for the civilian them, for him as Adrien and Marinette. They were looking for two kids.

Mayura was going from one rock to another and threw her fan. It flew very close to the cliff and then it started to return just when it was right above Chat Noir. Fortunately he heard the faint sound the feathered fan was making while flying and evaded it at the last moment. (Luckily, peacock feathers do not allow stealthy flying like the feathers of the owl.)

Chat Noir would have got seriously hurt if he got hit with her fan. He was surprised at the speed and agility of Mayura. He assumed it was he superhero suit that helped Nathalie to move with such speed and agility, not to forget elegance.

Speaking of elegance and beauty, where was his lady? He looked around and still he saw no trace of her? He did not want to test his communicator again. The night was quiet, and the two supervillains would interrupt their communication even mid sentence when they thought they heard someone. It was too risky to try.

"I am sure he used his baton to slow down their fall." Mayura mentioned between two jumps while she was aiming her fan. She threw her fan directly at Chat Noir and he removed his head behind the stone he was crawled on. The fan hit the stone just above him and few small pieces of the stone fell on him, fortunately, none of them was very big.

'So they expect to find two civilian kids.' Adrien muttered to himself. They were looking for two detransformed kids in the dark and expected to hit a living being with the same force that was breaking off pieces of rock.

"I keep seeing something up there." Mayura said and threw her fan straight at Chat Noir again. He ducked and the fan hit the same rock above him. This time he rolled away to avoid being hit by more stones. And he made a good decision as he would have got hit by much larger and heavier chunks of the stone this time.

Somewhere, in the back of his mind one thought, or perhaps that was Plagg, but something reminded him that his eyes glowed in the dark and perhaps that was what Mayura could see.

He sneaked away to the side. He should be more careful. But he was not able to see with his eyes closed.

"He tried to use it, that is for sure." Hawk Moth replied more calmly than one would expect from someone who was beating up the face of a cliff with all his might. "And if he succeeded, then he detransformed immediately after the landing." Another piece of rock fell off from the cliff face and slid down into the dark.

"They should be somewhere here." Mayura whispered as she was looking up the cliff face and into the direction of Chat Noir who evaded her fan again.

"They are hiding in some hole on this cliff." Hawk Moth snarled and hit another jagged stone that broke off and fell down into the darkness.

"We will find them." Mayura encouraged Hawk Moth and soothed him at the same tame. Nervous supervillain was not a very useful partner.

"And if they fell from this height while not transformed, we will pick up their miraculous off them easily once there is some light." Hawk Moth continued with a wicked grin on his face.

"Which should happen soon, I believe." Mayura encouraged further. The dawn was about to approach and they would be able to see very well.

"We are looking for two kids." Hawk Moth continued to hit the rock.

Yes they were looking for two kids, they hoped to find them hidden and injured and cause further injuries in the process.

Chat Noir was angry.

Chat Noir was becoming very angry. Those were his father and Nathalie and they wanted to harm him, and even worse, they wanted to harm Marinette, Ladybug, his lady.

Ladybug was still not there and he stopped wandering what kept her from coming. He was too angry for that.

"I can feel someone is very angry and very near." Hawk Moth snarled into the night air. "I know you are here and I am going to find you." The villain stressed every other word by another hit to the hard rock cutting few small pieces of stone that rolled down the cliff face. He also regretted having no butterflies to evilize at hand.

Chat Noir decided he had enough of waiting. He was going for an attack. He was not going to wait for his lady. He jumped over the edge of the cliff and threw himself down. He stared down at Mayura.

At the same moment, Mayura was carefully observing her surroundings and the only two things she could see in the dark, she could recognize instantly. She saw two green eyes glowing in the dark that approached with great speed.

He grinned in the darkness and reached out with his claws aiming at the brooch on the chest of Mayura. It was an easy pick for him. She was closer and in between Chat Noir and Hawk Moth so he had to take her first.

"He's transformed." she warned Hawk Moth as she elegantly evaded Chat Noir's claws that were going after her brooch. One more elegant move and she flipped him and turned him off from his trajectory. He was spinning and it was sheer luck that he managed to reach to his back and grab his baton, split it in two, holding one in each hand and deflect the hits from Hawk Moth.

Hawk Moth hit hard, and Chat Noir deflected each blow with the pieces of the baton he held. Unfortunately, one blow added more momentum to his rotation and he was spinning uncontrollably along both horizontal and vertical axes. And he was free falling. He managed to reconnect his baton, but extending it and putting it to some use was in vain. He managed to control his spin and if he just managed to extend his baton then he might slow down his fall. But he extended his baton too quickly. The baton had hit the cliff face once, a large piece of stone fell off the face of the cliff. But the consequence was that Chat Noir also lost his baton. He was now free falling without his weapon.

In the meantime, Ladybug descended to the narrow trail and followed it around the cliff. When she reached the area that was faintly lit up by the weak moonlight that was dispersed by the thin layer of clouds, she was able to move slightly quicker. But that was still much slower than she usually would move while transformed. Ladybug refrained herself from using her yoyo. She was not able to see much where she was going, and she might accidentally run straight into any of the two supervillains. And that was not a good idea.

So she ran one her feet using her hands to feel her way and checking the stability of each step she took. One error and she would produce a sound that would give her away. One error and she might expose herself to the two supervillains. One error and she could fall. If only Chat Noir have waited for her, they could have went together.

She could hear Hawk Moth and Mayura talking, or better yet, she could clearly hear Hawk Moth snarl and muttered sounds of Mayura. And then, when she was making just one more turn around yet one more corner she saw Chat Noir falling. She saw he passed Mayura and somehow changed the way he was falling. There was no detransformation flash so he failed to snatch her brooch. The she saw him fall by Hawk Moth who gave him two quick blows. Now Chat Noir was spinning totally out of control. He looked like a helicopter about to crash. And then she heard a clang of his baton, but Chat did not slow down his fall. Suddenly she jumped after him. She wrapped her yoyo around him and used her own two feet to slow down their fall ans she scraped them over the long and flat surface of the cliff that was almost vertical at that place.

Chat Noir felt the familiar chord wrap around his body and sighed. He was saved. His lady saved him. Again.

She yanked him upwards as she was not sure how far was the bottom of the cliff. She caught him in her arm. He grinned back and used his claws to dig into the face of the cliff to slow down their fall.

"How far down?" she asked.

"Not much" he answered.

"Throw your yoyo at 2 o'clock" Chat Noir even pointed his claw in that direction.

She threw her yoyo and it wrapped around a jagged stone sticking out from the cliff. They quickly swung sideways.

"We are going for the portal now My Lady, no more fooling around." Chat Noir yelled as loud as he could as he hoped he could fool the two villains that they were going back to Paris.

Ladybug sighed.

Two more swings that he directed her where to throw her yoyo and they were back at the same cave.

"Plagg, claws in." Chat Noir whispered as he looked down to the soil beneath his feet.

"What were you thinking?" Ladybug whisper shouted.

"I was not thinking." Adrien replied not raising his eyes from the ground. They had their chance and he blew it. "I could see them, I thought they could not see me."

"They saw you?" Ladybug whispered incredulously. "They could see you in the dark?" she was surprised that Hawk Moth and Mayura could see in the dark.

"They can't see in the dark any better than you can." Chat Noir replied assuringly.

"Have you just walked in there in the open?" She chided.

"No. I hid. My eyes." Adrien raised his eyes and looked towards Ladybug although it was too dark for both of them to see each other's faces. "They saw my eyes, they glow in the dark."

"Seriously?" Ladybug whispered incredulously.

"Seriously." Plagg answered as he floated almost in their faces, his eyes glowed in the dark.


	69. Chapter 69 - Anger Management

Anger Management

Hawk Moth was furious. Mayura was feeling mostly frustrated and slightly confused. She was akumatized up to perhaps an hour ago, she could not tell how much time had passed. She had just regained her awareness and joined the fight, and in a remarkable way even if she was the only one who admired herself for that. But then again, she was someone exceptional if Gabriel Agreste had chosen her to join him on this mission, he placed so much trust in her.

"They were transformed." he shouted angrily into the night. How was he able to be so wrong? How did he miscalculate it? He was certain their transformations wore off. They were supposed to be hiding as two pitiful civilians, at least, preferably wounded and unable to defend themselves. The only thing he had to do was to find them and snatch the miraculous from them.

"They ran away." Mayura replied thinking of how they were gone now. She ignored the outpurst of anger, she got used to it, to take it all in stride and live with that. It was the fact that Ladybug and Chat Noir were certainly very close when they transformed back into superheroes and they both should have noticed their transformation lights. And they must have hidden somewhere. Where did they come from? She looked around, the faint moonlight enabled her to see few details in her surroundings.

"Yes, like the cowards they are." Hawk Moth mocked the two superheroes as much as he could. But, now the two superheroes knew that Hawk Moth and Mayura were physically present at the temple. And he knew they knew. He did not bother himself dwelling on that thought more. He was about to contemplate on that once he was able to devote his full attention to that issue.

"Their portal, can it be invisible?" Mayura asked. She was not sure any more. Was it supposed to be visible in the dark? Could they hide there before they transformed back? What happened to her? What happened to them?

"You have too many questions." Hawk Moth warned as he slowly proceeded down the cliff. He was not going to linger out there and wait for a possible next attack. He had enough of that. And there was always a possibility that those two kids are sneaking up to them to do more eavesdropping. He was not about to reveal what happened.

Mayura pressed her lips tight, she wanted to ask what to do next, she wanted to ask where to go, what was on his mind. Because, she would do anything for him. The level of her devotion had surprised her from time to time, but she was reaching different levels each day (and night). She sighed audibly.

"We are going back to our lair." Hawk Moth ordered quietly so he was certain the sound did not reach much further than Mayura. He was in no condition to chase two young superheroes who have probably teleported away. Suddenly he had an idea. It will take a grand effort, but he had an idea. And as each of his ideas, it was perfect, if only he could find someone to execute it. His eyes landed on Mayura. Well, she would have to do it.

"We are not going after them?" she was a bit baffled. She was still looking into the direction (down) where the two superheroes have disappeared. She wanted to go after them. She wanted to follow them, to sneak up to them, to play them. She missed all the action that was going on while she was akumatized.

"Oh, we are, just not right now. I need some time to think." Hawk Moth replied with a grin. His plan was forming in his head, he just needed to polish a few details. And he needed his butterflies (or at least one). He was also about to make sure that Nathalie did her job as expected. And yes, he was going to direct her every step of the way. He learned from his errors and he learned fast. He was about to show the world just how fast Hawk Moth could learn. He did not care that the last attack was announced on all sorts of media, the blogs, the social networks and even the news picking up the information from there.

Nathalie kept quiet. She felt guilt for failing him this time. She was akumatized so she was not exactly sure what went wrong. She did not know when or how Ladybug and Chat Noir appeared there, she became aware that her akuma was cleansed there in the darkness of the night somewhere between the rocks and the grass. She remembered Hawk Moth akumatized her. She had obviously failed.

They descended the cliff slowly until they found the steps, from there they ran to their lair in the container camp. Hawk Moth contained his anger he was about to unleash it on the two superheroes. Mayura was hiding her frustration well, she was not the one who would show that, she was good at hiding and suppressing her emotions, it was a quality that earned her the job with Gabriel Agreste.

Once in the container, Hawk Moth paced the few steps back and forth, he was furious. Mayura detransformed into Nathalie and he instantly scolded her and made her transform back.

"We are not on a vacation here. We are on a mission." he warned and Nathalie called her transformation phrase. She composed herself and smiled back as she glowed in her transformation. Hawk Moth even went out of his way and stepped to the side to make room for her tail during her transformation. She flashed her tail and her fan and she knew it amused him, he showed it (not that anyone else would notice) but she knew he appreciated her transformation and flashed it with pride.

"You might use some rest, sir." Mayura warned struggling to keep herself strictly professional. If only they would take their time and talk a bit more. Perhaps they might get to a different solution. Not that she was against getting into a fight, on the contrary, she enjoyed it. She was tired and she needed some time to think. But she also had a boss. And bosses usually take thinking as their privilege, while she was there not to think but to do the job.

"No." Hawk Moth cut her off. "We are going with our next attack right away." he pushed further. "There is not time to lose, we have to go back up there and get the magical stones. We might gain our most precious jewels in the process." He continued to explain and struggled to keep himself calm.

"But sir ..." Mayura continued bravely. She was not sure why was he so impatient all of a sudden. They had so many attempts with the akuma in Paris. Rushing into things was not working better than careful planning, and she thought they had lost their element of surprise after the first attempt.

"But tell me, what was wrong with your sentimonsters in the temple?" Hawk Moth leaned over her with a curious expression on his face. "Was something bothering you over there?" He leaned into her space and looked at her from above.

"I do not remember sir, I was akumatized." She replied calmly. She had some strange ideas and thoughts in her head, but it was more as if she was remembering a dream from a few nights ago than actual memories. She was not about to give that any credit, let alone to treat those as facts.

"You had very little control over the sentimonsters." He sighed. So it was necessary for him to explain everything to her, all the details. He would have enjoyed that in any other circumstance, but he was so angry for loosing the box that was within his grasp. He was annoyed because he missed to catch Ladybug and Chat Noir as civilians. They were so close. He saw them detransform. If only he saw their faces. The shape of their clothing was something nondescript that was probably not defining them in any way. And he did not see much of it from afar.

"I could not control all of them." Mayura replied calmly as a matter of a fact and waited to receive her punishment for being less than he expected. She expected to be reprimanded and she was even ready to either take it or even reprimand, depending what she got, but there was nothing coming.

"I could see that. That is beyond discussion. But why?" Hawk Moth insisted. "Well, none of these people have ever been akumatized or got in touch with an amok." He stressed each word and watched her carefully. "And that is what makes it much harder. It is much easier to akumatize someone the second time into the same monster." He was not about to punish her. He wanted to use her again, to akumatize her while she was transformed and this time he knew how to fix the errors he made the first time. He wanted to act quickly while the heroes are away or recovering or whatever.

Mayura nodded calmly. She hid her sigh of relief. She hid how she felt about being punished. All that remained was a remnant of the frustration for the missed opportunity.

"That could explain a few things." Hawk Moth looked at the empty space above her head. "We had a sentimonster that could send us to another time. That was a very useful tool to use." He grinned again. He held his stick in front of him with both his hands. He was thinking on how to create even better and more powerful monsters. Could he use sniffling dogs to search for the miraculous jewels? Maybe, but his idea was still better.

"We went back to time when the miracle box was in the temple to fetch it, and we almost did, if it was not for Ladybug and Chat Noir." he explained quietly until he reached the names of the superheroes and he spat them out. Then he became quiet as he contemplated how the superheroes got to their time? They were in the same time, the past time, the time when they were chasing a boy from the burned remains of the temple. Well, Ladybug had a box full of miraculous and she even merged the powers from two miraculous. That was an option how they teleported too. His thoughts have spiralled into unknown depths and really crazy ideas, but he was actually relieved when his train(wreck) of thought was stopped.

"Anything else?" she asked quietly but there was some tension in her voice, she knew there had to be more. She could see daylight breaking out through the window. They were in action for most of the night.

"The fears that materialized are possibly not the scariest they had. You had no control over them working with so many people simultaneously." Hawk Moth continued.

"Yes, I believe that is true."she gave one more firm nod. She was not scolded. That was a relief. Actually, he was even gentle to her. He was explaining her what happened. Perhaps he would even explain her the details, she was not sure if she wanted to know them.

"May I continue?" he motioned with his hand to stress the last word. "Those sentimonsters were not the most efficient way to look for the miraculous jewels." He had ideas on how to proceed. There was not question about that. He had many ideas. And this idea was the best.

Mayura nodded again. She was not aware what she was doing. He knew that and he did not blame her. That was good.

"Exactly, and why are we here?" Hawk Moth suppressed his as much as he could but he still snapped at Mayura. "We have to think of something more efficient." He turned towards the small container where they kept the butterflies and caught one.

"What do you suggest sir?" she asked puzzled about what was going on.

"We will do it differently this time. Because, this time, I will control what is going to be created. And, trust me, those are going to be my best creations ever." Hawk Moth grinned his wicked grin. He turned the butterfly into the dark violet and let it flutter. "Now you are going to take it in your miraculous and only after that, I am going to explain my plan to you."

Mayura stiffened. That meant she was not supposed to know, she was supposed to forget anything about his plan.

"Wouldn't you rather we discuss it now sir?" she insisted. She wanted to know, she wanted to discuss his plan with him, that was how they did it before. Why was he excluding her from the planning this time.

"We should continue with our attack as soon as possible." Hawk Moth practically glowed with how malicious he was.

The butterfly kept fluttering between them. Hawk Moth was angry and Mayura was not much better in the feelings department.

"Fine, but only the brief version of the plan." Hawk Moth agreed and briefly described his plan. He considered it ingeniousness was in its simplicity. Nobody could disprove that. He was certain they were about to succeed this time.

"I have an idea how we could further improve your plan sir." Mayura smiled as she took her tablet and offered it to him. "Why don't we share this little creature over here?" she asked with a sly smile.

Hawk Moth looked at her and the icy cold stare in his eyes suddenly glowed even stronger while his wicked smile became even wider.

"I consider your idea an improvement, indeed." Hawk Moth held the other end of the tablet and waited for the butterfly to land on it.

A Violet mask appeared on her face. And on his.

"Scarlet Peacock, my name is Hawk Moth, I give you power to create as many sentimonsters as needed, but you will use it carefully and when needed." Hawk Moth purred gently to her. He was about to unleash the most wicked plan he ever conjured.

"As for me, I will remain Hawk Moth, but I will have the power of controlling the sentimonsters you create." He contemplated giving himself more powers, like blowing things up or becoming a mind control akuma, but he considered he had learned his lesson.

The break of dawn had passed long time ago, the sun was up.

It was pure daylight outside when they stepped out from the container. No hiding this time and no darkness of the night for their enemies to hide in.


	70. Chapter 70 - Careless

Careless

Meanwhile, Ladybug stood in the small cave they used to hide and transform. Chat Noir had just detransformed into Adrien after the last confrontation with Hawk Moth and Mayura.

"Mayura saw my eyes." Adrien was persistent in using that name and not Nathalie. "She saw me and threw her weapon at me. It broke of some stones from the cliff above me. I had to hide. I was not even close to them in the first place. I could see and hear them from the way far up." He was trying to explain to Ladybug he was not careless and did not throw himself into the danger without thinking. Well he sort of did in the end, but she did not need to know all the details, right? Besides, he was thinking, he was thinking a lot, when he started to think about what he was looking at, he became angry.

"Tikki, spots off." Marinette whispered softly. She did not want to argue. It was not the time for that. And, she was not angry. Not really. All she felt was relief. She had this spur of a moment idea to just go and attack the two supervillains. She had no plan and she sort of just wanted to be the one leading the attack against Hawk Moth, she was tired of being chased. She was tired of waiting.

Adrien stared into the darkness.

She wrapped her arms around him.

"I was scared for you." she whispered. "I am still annoyed by your carelessness. But I was mostly scared."

"I was not careless." Adrien whispered back and wrapped his arms around her. This was not an argument he wanted to have. He just wanted to be close to her. He just wanted to go back to the temple and get some rest.

"You were. You just vaulted away. You 'I have night vision' damn cat have just vaulted away. Do you remember I do not see in the dark?" she chided his shoulder. She was not harsh, she was just tired. She needed rest. She needed a clear head to be able to make a plan for the next time.

"I'm sorry." he finally understood the beginning and the whole extent of his error. He really and truly meant it. She was left alone in the darkness and yet she followed him and she even managed to save him when he got himself into trouble. It was him who forgot that he had night vision but Ladybug did not and needed help to get there, it was him who did not verify the communicator and vaulted away, it was him who forgot that his eyes glowed in the dark. He blamed himself.

"Let's go back to the temple." Marinette whispered and pulled out from the hug. She was worried for more than that. There was a reason why they kept their identities a secret from each other. She worried that now they have disturbed some kind of balance and that was the reason for the errors they made.

"Okay, but please accept my apology." He pulled her back into even tighter hug. "I blew it. I blew our chance." he whispered apologies into her ear. That was their chance to attack, to have control in the situation, and he missed it. If he took her with him, she would have noticed his eyes. How they glowed, she would have told him why Mayura easily spotted him in the dark.

"Let's just go back, we are both tired and we need to see how the others are doing." Marinette replied as she patted his back and pulled away from him. Up there, on the top of that cliff, there was a temple, full of students and monks, who have just been through a terrible attack of many sentimonsters. Ladybug and Chat Noir always tried to make the victims feel better after the attack.

"Wait." he whispered as he took her hand. "Pound it?" he asked quietly.

"Pound it!" she replied quietly and smiled into the darkness. It took several attempts and misses, one fist bump between Marinette's fist and Adrien's chest but they did it in the end, not straight on, they half fist bumped half brushed their fists against the forearm of the other. But they laughed quietly and decided the made it.

They left the cave feeling their way out in the complete darkness. Outside, they saw little more. Walking one the edge of the cliff in complete darknes, while tired, was generally not a good idea. Adrien contemplated what harm would that be if he just transformed into Chat Noir to cross the short path.

"Plagg, you might help." Adrien noted. "Please?" he added just to be polite, not that the old black cat like god of destruction cared much.

"Yeah, kid, here we go." Plagg grunted as he floated in front of Adrien. "Just follow my eyes." he teased.

Adrien sighed and found Marinette's hand, he pulled her behind him.

Tikki sat on the girls shoulder and munched on her next cookie.

"Tikki, are we making errors because we know each other identities?" Marinette whispered quietly to her kwami. But Adrien heard her and concentrated on the sound that was coming from the back.

"You can't say that for sure. You would have made different errors if you did not, or you might have made the same. You can't know what would have been." Tikki spoke quietly, but Adrien could still hear each word.

"You were not supposed to know the identities of each other, but going to the temple does that for you." Plagg muttered.

"You did not recognize each other even when you arrived." Tikki smiled through her words. It was obvious that she was a bit entertained by the whole situation. And that put both kids at ease. If Tikki was able to find their situation funny, then it was not so big deal that they missed this chance.

"That is because they knew the other wielded a miraculous, just not this one." Plagg muttered back. He was not in such good mood as Tikki. He was worried about Adrien. So far, they did not get close to a win against Hawk Moth and Mayura, except if they risked the existence of his chosen. It was not death, he would have never existed. And that bothered Plagg.

Tikki sensed his distress and floated over to the black cat like kwami.

"Don't worry, they will find a way." she whispered softly.

They walked to the temple quickly, stopping from time to time to check for the sounds. The option that the two villains might have followed them was still open. Adrien was contemplating not to call Plagg a glutton ever again in his life. The fact that Plagg was able to recharge and transform him in mere seconds saved them.

"They know that we now know that they are here." Marinette whispered. There was their element of surprise. It was gone. They might as well just walk straight down to the camp and knock on the door to their container.

Once they reached the temple, they were met by Dorje who waited outside the wall, close to the small door they used to sneak out so many times. He listened carefully to Adrien who explained briefly everything that happened. After their conversation, Dorje was eager to send the two superheroes to get some rest. He left two small packages with food for the kids and their kwami and left, to pass the information to others, without a doubt.

The next person they found (or, to put it more precisely, they were found by) was Ling, who was eagerly looking for the two young teens. She was worried when they were not found once all the monsters disappeared. She explained how everyone still remembered their monsters, although not very vividly, it was like a bad dream.

"I am sorry." Marinette whispered. "We got into another time, again, and we got out from the temple." She was concerned about the students and how and why they could remember what happened while they were under the influence of the amok.

Ling explained how the monsters disappeared and how the students handled it. When they reached the large room some students were already sleeping, while other were whispering excitedly, checking their phones, cried from the distress while the others were trying to calm down the distressed ones.

Marinette wanted to do some damage control. So she altered the story a bit, Ladybug and Chat Noir arrived, probably through a portal again (as Ling has suggested), she did not see it. It was possible that Hawk Moth and Mayura have created a teleportation portal if they managed to create a time travelling akuma or a sentimonster. Ling could not wait to talk to Alya. Marinette thanked her for calling Alya in her place. The prospect of a talk with Alya at that moment seemed exhausting.

"You should get some rest." another monk and the older girl said at the same time.

Adrien shrugged, thanked the monk and went into his sleeping bag, he even used the moment to give some more cheese to Plagg.

Marinette wished them good night and followed. She wandered what was the point. She was not going to fall asleep. She had to plan their next attack. They should go after Mayura and Hawk Moth, perhaps even now. She was probably going to toss and turn and not let Adrien fall asleep while she would dwell about the different plans.

She was wrong.

Because when Adrien wanted to whisper more apologies to her, he realized she was already asleep. He pulled her closer and closed his eyes. They might have followed the two villains and attacked again. But the next attack would not be a surprise. They might have went to the camp and ambushed them. But that would hardly be a surprise. They were tired and they needed rest first.

He rolled over the events in his head. He got angry and hurt when he comprehended what Hawk Moth (in fact, his father) and Mayura (in fact, Nathalie) were doing. And his feelings consumed him far too much he was willing to admit. But those feelings did not resurface in him while he was thinking about what had happened. Chat Noir acted, he attacked, but he was all messed up. And that was a lesson, he should not make decisions on his own while he was so messed up.

Marinette shifted in her sleep. He should not loose sleep thinking of what happened. He made errors. He was tired. He needed rest. She was breathing steadily and he concentrated on that. Within one minute, he was asleep too.

Not a metre away, Ling was chatting with Alya again. It was still night in the temple, but it was far before the midnight in Paris and there was no way for the Lady blogger to go to sleep any time soon after all the photos of different sentimonsters were floating all around the internet, many of them submitted to her blog. She had a job to do, check all the photos, verify their sources (oh yeah she (almost) always did that, at least she checked for the image manipulation software), write captions and in the end write the accompanying text. And since she was not chasing the akuma, she had more than the energy and the time to spare.

Ling turned her camera to the two sleeping teens and snickered. Alya was going nuts on the other side of the phone, jumping in her seat and screaming. That was sufficient for someone in Alya's flat to come and warn her (by the sound of the voice, that was her father) and she quieted down and soon sent her greetings and cut the connection. There was time to tease those two kids. But right then, she had work to do, and that was to write about the latest attack. Hawk Moth and Mayura were both seen at the temple. That was really something worth publishing (not to mention spending the night awake).


	71. Chapter 71 - Sentimonsters

Sentimonsters

"We will get the ring and the earrings, weather they are hiding in the temple or they teleport from Paris." Hawk Moth said.

"They should arrive soon after our creatures arrive to the temple. I expect those students to post the pictures instantly." Scarlet Peacock replied with a smile.

Hawk Moth picked up a small stone from the ground and held it out in the palm of his hand.

Scarlet Peacock picked a feather from her tail and blew on it to turn it violet. Then she placed the feather one the small stone in the palm of Hawk Moth's hand.

A monster started to build from the stone, while the small stone remained on the surface. Soon a figure formed. It was a very familiar figure. It was a copy of Hawk Moth and the small stone was in the place of his pin, his miraculous.

"Excellent." Hawk Moth and his sentimonster copy spoke in unison while they checked each other out from head to toe.

Then Hawk Moth picked up one more stone from the ground, this one was larger and completely flat. Copy of Hawk Moth also bent over and picked up something from the ground. Scarlet peacock produced one more feather and turned it violet. She blew the feather and Hawk Moth caught it onto the stone. She moulded another sentimonster. And this one looked exactly like Mayura.

"Excellent, but I was thinking of a different copy of you, the way you are now. But, I guess we can use this one too." Hawk Moth raised his eyebrow. Both copies raised their eyebrows at the same time.

But then, the copy of Hawk Moth held out his hand and there was another flat stone.

"All right!" Hawk Moth grinned. "This is going to work out excellent." he snarled.

Scarlet Peacock produced one more violet feather and it floated away towards the Hawk Moth copy. The copy caught the feather and another sentimonster started to form, this time in scarlet colour in the place of blue. Soon a copy of Scarlet Peacock watched the original and the original stared at the copy.

"Are you sure about this sir?" both Scarlet Peacocks and Mayura spoke at the same time.

"Oh yes, I am" Hawk Moth and all the sentimonsters replied simultaneously.

"But now" Hawk Moth spoke more solemnly, comes more difficult part."

He bent over and took one more stone in each hand. Scarlet peacock produced another evilized feather and it floated over to Hawk Moth. All other sentimonsters had a piece of stone in each of their hands.

Scarlet Peacock moulded the next sentimonster to resemble Peagasus and the small stone was included in its outfit as a button on his glove.

Scarlet Peacock produced more feathers and sent them towards the other stones. Soon there was a sentimonster in the form of Rena Rouge building up in front of the Hawk Moth copy, the small stone was in her flute. The stone from the other hand was producing green mass that soon took the form of Carapace with the stone in his bracelet.

Hawk Moth grinned and picked up a small stone that he added to the one held in his other hand.

In the meantime two sentimonsters formed in front of Scarlet Peacock copy, one in the shape of Monkey King with a stone in the crown on his head and another in the shape of Chat Noir with the stone in his ring.

The stones held by Mayura copy were shaped into sentimonsters resembling Viperion with a stone in his harp and Ryuko with a stone in her choker.

Finally, a scarlet feather fell onto the two small stones held by Hawk Moth in his left hand. Scarlet peacock moulded it into a copy of Ladybug while both stones formed her earrings.

"Excellent." Hawk Moth grinned.

"Excellent." Scarlet Peacock repeated with a grin.

"Excellent." The sentimonsters repeated with the same grin.

"Climb up to the temple my creations." Hawk Moth celebrated while he spread his arms wide. "Go there and take the real miraculous stones from them."

The sentimonsters jumped the rocks all the way up to the temple. The real Scarlet Peacock and Hawk Moth followed from a distance.

Ladybug and Chat Noir lead the way up and into the temple.

Dorje stood inside the hallway and watched the door when the sentimonsters shaped as heroes entered the temple. But, he knew there was something wrong. He quickly entered a narrow corridor behind one tapestry and went to the large room where most of the students were sleeping. He instantly went to Adrien and Marinette. Both were sleeping still. He smiled gently and shook them awake. He placed a finger over his mouth as soon as Adrien opened his eyes. Waking up Marinette required more effort, but together they managed. She blinked her eyes open and smiled to Adrien. He smiled back gently but then motioned with his chin that she should look up. She frowned when she Dorje and his worried face.

"Oh look, the heroes, the heroes!" echoed the large sleeping room. Due to a busy night, everyone was sleeping longer. The students were still in their sleeping bags and many of them were sleeping when the sentimonsters started entering the large room. The appearance of Ladybug and Chat noir in the large room raised a lot of noise from those who were awake. They woke up the others to look.

But, not everyone believed these were real heroes. Many tried to touch them with their hands and asked questions.

Carapace and Rena Rouge sentimonsters followed inside after Ladybug and Chat Noir. Ling was awake with her phone in her hand and filming. The next in the room were Viperion and Ryuko, followed by Monkey King and Pegasus.

Marinette scratched her head and looked at Adrien then back at the scene before her.

"Warn Pema, Tenzin and Dolma" Marinette whispered.

"Warn the monks." Adrien whispered.

Dorje gave one firm nod and swiftly disappeared behind the closest tapestry.

Finally, Mayura, Scarlet Peacock and Hawk Moth sentimonsters entered the room.

"These are sentimonsters." Marinette whispered and Adrien nodded.

"Sentimonsters?" Ye asked quietly.

Marinette and Adrien nodded in unison while their eyes stayed on the sentimonsters.

"Hey, Ling, these are not heroes, they are sentimonsters." Ye nudged the girl with his elbow. Ling frowned.

"But they look exactly like Alya showed me." Ling complained.

"Remember that TV footage with two Ladybugs she showed you?" Ye reminded her.

"Yeah." Ling replied disappointedly.

"Are you sure all of them are sentimonsters?" Adrien whispered to Marinette's ear. It tickled her and she raised her shoulders and squeezed her head down, but she studied the sentimonsters carefully.

"If they bothered to create so many, I bet they created copies of themselves." Marinette replied slowly.

"Where are their amok hiding?" Adrien asked. "Their miraculous jewels look different."

"You are right, it is the miraculous jewels, they look different, except Viperion and Rena." Marinette added.

Pema and Dorje entered followed by Tenzin.

Pema crouched close to Marinette and whispered. "The box if safe."

"They are sentimonsters." Marinette whispered back.

Dorje gave her one firm nod.

"We know" Pema answered reassuringly. She gave the girl one long look and smiled. Then she got up and helped Tenzin approach the sentimonsters.

Dorje signalled Adrien and Marinette to get up and stay close.

"So, you have arrived." Tenzin said solemnly once he got seated on a small bench close to the middle of the room.

The sentimonsters approached slowly.

"What is it that brought you here?" Tenzin asked calmly looking straight at Hawk Moth sentimonster.

"We want the miraculous you hide in this temple." Hawk Moth sentimonster demanded.

"What miraculous?" Tenizin asked calmly, one his eyebrows twitched up slightly.

"We want Ladybug and Chat Noir miracoulous." Hawk Moth sentimonster spoke again.

"They are all moving their mouths when he speaks." Marinette whispered to Adrien behind Pema's back. The monks smiled, they noticed too.

"Yeah, I saw that." Adrien never lifted his eyes from the sentimonsters.

"Why would you need them? Apparently they are already here." Tenzin asked calmly as if he was asking for more tea.

"I want those that you hide." Hawk Moth snarled.

"But you already have them." Tenzin motioned towards Ladybug and Chat Noir sentimonsters.

The sentimonsters distributed around the room and watched around carefully.

"No, I want those you hide, I want the real ones." Hawk Moth shouted and glared at the old monk.

"Those are not the real heroes." someone whispered in the background.

Tenzin stroked his beard calmly.

"And why do you need them?" the old monk smirked.

"That is none of your business." Hawk Moth brushed him off.

"It is my business if you come here and disturb our peace." Tenzin looked at the sentimonster directly into his eyes. It was as if he could communicate directly to Hawk Moth himself (he knew he could) and read his feelings (well that part appeared rather obvious to everyone, but was it acting?).

"We are looking for the miracle box." Hawk Moth replied solemnly, it was not as if they kept their intentions a secret, most of the persons got infected with amok, it just did not work the way he expected, they had less power over them, perhaps because they were so many and none of them had been infected previously.

"What is the miracle box?" Tenzin asked calmly. There was neither curiosity nor surprise in his voice. His expression did not reveal any emotion. There was a smirk on Adrien's face as he understood the question. He wanted to translate the conversation to Marinette, but the way she squeezed his hand revealed that she either does not need that or does not wan because it might give them away.

"The miracle box is a box that contains the miraculous jewellery." Hawk Moth replied with few traces of loosing his patience. Why these three persons who just walked in did not have any sentimonsters haunting them?

"Why do you want the miracle box?" Tenzin asked calmly. It seemed the old monk decided it was useless to pretend further he did not know what the miracle box was. He was going to get where he wanted. He needed to give way too for that.

"I will not tell you that. You will give it to me." Hawk Moth snarled. "I demand from you to hand me the miracle box." he continued. "You will give it to me and I will stop this … nonsense." He motioned through the room to show the sentimonsters and the last word he spoke was the only one that occurred to him to use to describe what he was doing.

"So you do admit what you doing is … nonsense?" Tenzin stroked his beard gently.

"I want the miracle box. I want the miraculous. I know you have it in here. Now you hand it over to me or I will use all these monsters against you." Hawk Moth glared at the old man and shouted.

"Why would you do that? How would you get the miracle box if you destroy us?" Tenzin continued.

"So, you do have the miracle box." Hawk Moth exclaimed feeling like he already won.

Tenzin stroke his beard and looked at Hawk Moth.

"If you have not expected that, then why are you here?" the old monk asked quietly.

Hawk Moth glared at the old monk.

"Are you going to bring me the miraculous box?" Hawk Moth shouted his eyes were angry and he spat as he talked.

Tenzin stroke his beard again, very slowly and watched Hawk Moth carefully.

"What do you really want." Tenzin kept his eyes on the eyes of the sentimonster the whole time.

Adrien remembered his conversation that first night, how he felt those eyes could read his thoughts and see straight into his soul, it was as if the old monk knew things about him he did not even know himself. He hoped Hawk Moth felt the same way. It was clear to him that what was standing in the room before him was a sentimonster, not the real Hawk Moth. He did not understand how he knew it and he was not able to explain that even to himself, he just knew.

Marinette was scanning the surroundings. She watched every move the sentimonsters made. Some students were getting up, then more and more, and after a while, all the students were on their feet.

"Tell me, what do you really want?" Tenzin repeated the question.

Hawk Moth was motionless and just stared into Tenzin as if he was hypnotized.

"Why are you so angry?" Tenzin pushed further.

"I am not angry." Hawk Moth replied solemnly.

"You would not be able to create all these monsters if you were not angry or full of some other negative emotions and all I see now in you is anger." Tenzin was explaining that as if he was speaking to a seven year old child, a very patient seven year old child because he spoke slowly.

Hawk Moth sentimonster stared at the old man hiding the emotions of his master.

"Why do you exploit the negative emotions from other people?" Tenzin stroked his beard again and smiled gently. "Why do you spread your hatred?"

"That is no concern of yours." Hawk Moth snarled back.

Several sentimonsters started to push the students away because they were approaching closer and closer to the centre of the room.

"You should seek happiness and peace of mind. You should seek kindness and love." Tenzin continued as he smiled gently at the villain before him.

Hawk Moth sentimonster approached closer and practically towered over the old monk. Tenzin remained straight and tall but did not make a single move to reveal he was concerned by the move.

"Love. I want love. I want to bring back the only person I ever loved." Ant those were the first words Hawk Moth spoke in a normal tone of voice, no snarl, no hatred, no power management.

All sentimonsters flipped their heads toward Hawk Moth sentimonster. Mayura and Scarlet Peacock had dropped their jaws and stared at him with their mouths opened.

Marinette searched for Adrien's hand and squeezed it. He squeezed back but did not look in her direction. She was worried. She was very worried. Her eyebrows got furrowed.

'The only person he ever loved' that meant he did not love Adrien.

"There must be some other way … " Tenzin offered.

"There isn't" Hawk Moth cut him off.

"There must be some other way to bring her back if she left you." Tenzin continued untouched by the treatment.

"She did not leave me." Hawk Moth stressed the word leave.

"She died? You should not bring back the dead." Tenzin warned with a serious note in his voice.

"No. Yes. Maybe. I don't know." Hawk Moth was showing signs he was starting to break.

Mayura and Scarlet Peacock stared at the floor. The other sentimonsters just stood there and did not move.

"Why don't you tell me what happened?" Tenzin allowed himself to add more glint to his eyes as a small sign of victory.

Adrien tensed, was he about to finally learn the truth? Unconsciously, he straightened up and moved to the side to see Hawk Moth sentimonster better. Marinette squeezed his hand and pulled him back so he was peaking over Pema's shoulder again. He wanted to know the truth, he wanted to know what happened to his mother.

Outside, the real Hawk Moth and Scarlet Peacock were wandering where the real heroes were.


	72. Chapter 72 - Tell Us About Her

Tell us about her

Hawk Moth and Scarlet Peacock were outside the temple and concentrated on controlling their monsters. The violet masks glowed on their faces and they kept staring at the empty space before them as they concentrated on what they could see through the eyes of the monsters.

Inside, Tenzin slowly progressed in his conversation with Hawk Moth and had just asked what happened to the person Hawk Moth loved.

"That is no concern of yours." Hawk Moth snarled back.

Okay, but they just made a few steps forward, this was just one step back.

"What are you looking for?" Tenzin asked calmly. Flashes of the first night when the same monk questioned him went through Adrien's mind. But one look around reminded the boy that this time the odds are different, there are so many sentimonsters and it was dangerous to fight them even if he transformed as there were students. Marinette pulled him back when he stepped to the side again. She did not want him to be seen although his blonde hair was hidden with his black cap.

Hawk Moth sentimonster stared at the old man. Who was this man? Perhaps he was the local guardian? Perhaps he could reason with the man? Was it wise to reveal what he came for?

Scarlet Peacock and Mayura sentimonsters calmed down, it was finally time for the talk part. She knew Gabriel was good at talking at people ('at' is there on purpose), she knew he had his ways to always bend them according to his will, and she knew his ways were seldom subtle.

The superhero themed sentimonsters were quiet and motionless as they formed a circle around the persons in the middle of the room isolating them from the students around.

The room became eerily quiet considering the number of people (and sentimonsters) inside.

Marinette stiffened and hardened the grip she had on Adrien's hand. He squeezed her hand back in a manner he hoped could be reassuring.

"Why do you really need the miracle box? What would you use it for then?" Tenzin continued. This was a game of nerves and the old man had enough to spare. Besides, it looked like it was not his first one. The one with Adrien could hardly be counted. The question was how Hawk Moth imagined to bring his loved one 'back' and what was hi willing to sacrifice. But also what actually happened to that person.

"That is none of your business." Hawk Moth snarled. He was loosing his patience. Hawk Moth was winning here and this was no time for negotiations. If only they have found the miracle box or the miraculous stones hidden in the temple already. He wanted to resume the search while he was having this conversation with the old monk. He wandered if he should be keeping this conversation. He rubbed his temples and muttered some words. The mask on the face of Scarlet Peacock glowed stronger and she muttered further words.

The sentimonsters formed a tight circle around Pema, Dorhe, Tenzin, Adrien and Marinette. The girl looked around. Ling was filming or taking photos. It was possible she even streamed it directly to Alya. But it was pointless to transform and fight here. She had to escape and find the real Hawk Moth and Scarlet Peacock and fight them there.

Adrien felt Marinette was in fight mode although she kept squeezing his hand reassuringly. Hawk Moth said he was doing all this monstrous crimes only to bring back his mother. And there was no clear answer to the question if his mother was dead or alive. He just knew she did not leave. But what that meant? If she did not _leave_, that meant she was still _there_. But _where_ was she? In the Agreste Mansion? Was his mother in the same house as him the whole time? He was so full of questions that his hands started shaking and Marinette grabbed his other hand and held them both to her chest. He finally looked at the girl.

There was concern in her eyes. She knew he missed his mother. She was worried. Her eyes were pleading 'Do not break now. Hold on. Hold on.' And he held on to her hand and her gaze. He listened to the conversation and left staring at Hawk Moth to Tenzin. The old monk was much better at that.

"Why don't you tell me about the person you love?" Tenzin smiled encouragingly. "If you want us to help you bring them back, why don't you tell us about that person?"

"Why would I tell you that?" Hawk Moth negotiated.

"Because we can help you." Tenzin replied quietly.

That disturbed the feeling inside Marinette and Adrien's guts. Yes he wanted his mother back. Yes she wanted he had his mother back if he wanted that, but they both knew such wishes came at a price and both of them were too honest and too little selfish to indulge in such wishes.

"How can you help me?" Hawk Moth turned into a businessman.

"There are many ways one can reach a goal. Some of them are easier than the others." Tenzin spoke quietly.

"Yes, give me the Chat Noir and Ladybug miraculous and I can wish her back." Hawk Moth crossed his arms on his chest as he looked down at the old monk.

"There is a solution to every problem. And usually, there is more than one solution." Tenzin warned.

"I knew you would not let me have her back." Hawk Moth glared down.

"That is far from the truth. Please, tell us about her, tell us about the person you love so much." Tenzin pushed his agenda. If he made Hawk Moth think of love, then his anger would stop feeding the evil in the monsters.

"How have you met? How have you fallen in love?" the old monk asked gently.

There was long silent pause in which Hawk Moth finally turned his eyes away from the old monk. And Tenzin let him have his precious time to finally give in. It was time to tell. He knew. He knew when he won and he waited to hear what the monster before him had to tell.

Hawk Moth took a long breath, cleared his throat and everyone knew he gave in. From his point of view, he was only telling a story, and some time, and if this monk really meant what he said, he should get help, because Emilie deserved it.

"She was one of the models in my company. We went to Tibet for a photo shoot for a winter collection in the middle of summer. It was fashionable back then. That film 'Seven years in Tibet' was just released. Anyway, she stumbled on some jewels and a book. I saw her transformed into this beautiful creature. She was so amazing. I fell in love as soon as I saw her." His eyes glowed while he described her. He smiled lovingly. Adrien peeked over to see the villain and he has never seen his father with such gentle expression on his face. But, that meant he fell in love with his mother the first time he saw her _transformed_, not the actual first time he saw her as a civilian. She was just a model in his company. "She was amazing without the mask too." he added briefly after a long pause. The words were not very convincing.

There was long and uncomfortable silence.

So his father fell in love in his mother only when he saw her transformed and it was 'as soon as he saw her' as if that was some version of 'love at firs sight'. Just like he fell in love with Ladybug the first moment he saw her. But he did not see Marinette before. He did not know her before, that was different. But he did not fall in love with Marinette the first time he saw her. But that was only because he was already in love with Ladybug. Maybe he did fall in love with Marinette that first day at school? Plagg did tease him about her being his girlfriend ever since he gave her his umbrella, did he? He was not like his father. He was not his father. He was not anything like him. And he was not wishing his mother back at all costs. And he was not able to destroy the world for the woman he loved, right? No, he was nothing like his father. Well, at least he was not a manipulative coward. And he did not love Ladybug because it was good for business. And … he was nothing like his father.

"When she was transformed, it was the most beautiful creation I ever saw. She had elegance, she had grace." He smiled lovingly while his eyes were glossy and unfocused. "And I used her transformations in my next line, it was my first line for haute coutre that was a major success and even Audrey Bourgeois praised it."

Adrien held onto Marinette like a lifeline. It was so hard to hear that story. The version his mother told him was much more beautiful. It was much more romantic. His father was a much better person in that story. He wandered why his mother told him such a different story. His mother loved him, even with all his flaws, she loved him and she admired him and she wanted him to be happy which meant that he had to be successful.

"She had two of those jewels that gave powers. The Peacock one was broken. So I took the Butterfly one." Hawk Moth continued.

"But why would he take to good one and let her keep the broken one if he loved her so much and she was the one who found them?" Adrien whispered to Marinette. That made no sense to him. Except, his mother loved him so much that she let him use the good one while she kept the broken one for herself.

"And I married her." Hawk Moth sentimonster continued. He had the face of a man in love.

"And then she got pregnant." the word pregnant did not sit well with Hawk Moth.

Adrien winced. Marinette squeezed his hand tight. That was not a good sign. But Adrien was certain his father loved him. In his own way. He did show some signs of appreciation and from time to time Adrien even imagined his father did love him. Well, Gabriel Agreste did love his son, at least in a possessive and overprotective way he was only able to. Adrien did not dare to look at him. He kept staring at Marinette drawing the strength to endure this speech without a visible reaction that would have given him away.

"Her sister was pregnant too." he spat the words out. There was contempt in his voice.

Adrien was breathing heavily following Marinette's breathing and stared into her blue blue eyes.

"My wife, she gave birth to a healthy child." Gabriel continued gently. He smiled again and his eyes glowed. There was even a hint of pride in his voice. Weather he was proud of his wife or his son (or even both) remained undefined.

Adrien sighed, this sounded better.

"But her sister, she had to loose her child." he practically snarled. He made a long break and clenched his fists.

Adrien stiffened.

"What?" he mouthed. Where did Felix come from? Marinette pulled him closer to calm him down. She knew there were many questions in the boys head. She had many questions, but he must have had more. And those were about his mother and his family. Not hers.

"So my wife, my dear wife, she created a sentimonster, a copy of her own child and gave it to her sister to comfort her." Hawk Moth was practically shouting in resignation. "I told her not to do it. But her sister was loosing her mind."

If someone dropped a pin at that moment it would have been the loudest sound in the room. Everyone was silent. Nobody was even breathing.

The act made a perfect sense to Marinette. The miraculous can be used to do good things or to do bad things. Adrien's mother wanted to do something good, she wanted to help her sister. But she was neither trained nor supervised and she was not chosen. She did what she wanted to. It was not a selfish act, but still it was probably not the wisest.

"At least, I persuaded her to get something from her sister in return, her family's heirloom, the two matching rings. Before, she had one and her sister had the other. I think she stored the amok in one of the rings." Hawk Moth smiled wickedly. But he never knew which of the two rings it was, so insisted Emilie kept both.

Adrien dropped his head, he remembered some talk about the rings, he never concerned himself about the issue. Apparently there was some argument about the rings between Gabriel and the boys aunt. He was sorry he did not pay more attention. But he was used to things being hidden from him, it was not as if his father ever kept him informed on any of those issues.

"She kept using the brooch to help with raising that thing her sister considered her child." Gabriel continued with a mixture of sorrow, regret and disgust as he spoke different words in the sentence. "But she was loosing her health. Until, one day, she stopped living."

Adrien hugged Marinette and pushed his face into her neck. He was trying, really hard, not to cry. She hugged him back, tight, her arms prevented him to produce loud sobs. He released his tears into her onesie and was struggling not to sniffle. He breathed on his mouth and let the tears flow out.

"She kept using that broken brooch and she lost her health because of it. All for that witch and her monster." Hawk Moth sentimonster snarled.

There was a lot of murmur amongst the students who finally started to look at each other, they only began to comprehend what they just heard and digest the information they got. Some were even feeling sorry for the monster before them.

"But Mayura and Scarlet Peacock seem healthy. Did he fix it?" Marinette whispered.

"Nathalie was getting worse lately." Adrien replied grateful for a small distraction to calm himself down. "But she is better now."

Outside the temple, the real Hawk Moth was on his knees and crying. Scarlet Peacock just stared at the villain unsure what to do. He was controlling her, she was akumatized and at that moment, his mind was a mess, full of sorrow, hatred and regret.


	73. Chapter 73 - Help Me, Help Her, Help You

Help her, help me, help yourself

In the temple, three monks and two teenagers were surrounded by sentimonsters shaped as superheroes (and a few supervillains).

The old teacher monk Tenzin watched Hawk Moth sentimonster carefully anticipating the next move. What Hawk Moth had said was unexpected, up to a point. The old monk was ready to hear anything and react to it. After he heard what Hawk Moth sentimonster had to say (on behalf of the villain himself) the old monk was mostly concerned about one particular boy in the room. The boy who was the son of a villain that created the monster before him. The boy who knew that was his father who talked about his mother. The boy who also wielded the black cat miracoulous. He could not turn around and check himself how the boy was doing as that would draw the attention of the sentimonsters to the boy.

Dorje stood tall half a step behind Tenzin as if guarding the old monk from the monster, but his eyes flicked to the boy who stood behind Pema. Adrien was held by Marinette, his face hidden between her neck and her shoulder. Dorje admired the girl, she was doing a good job in keeping the boy together. Staying there, out of sight from the sentimonster resembling Hawk Moth was the best both of them were able to do at the moment.

Marinette held him as tight as she could, she felt it was good for him. He breathed erratically. Her heart was breaking for the boy. Did he ever learn what it meant to have a family? He was Adrien, her perfect boy, he was Chat Noir, her dorky partner, and his home life was a nightmare from a horror film (and she hated horror films, she really did). How was that even possible? But, most importantly, she had to keep him composed as much as she could. She cloud not afford for him to fall apart just then. She needed him as much as he needed her. Because they will have to fight these monsters and she was not able to face all of them alone.

The rest of the students murmured comments and explanations. Of course, Hawk Moth did not reveal his identity (not that it would have mattered to most of the people in the room anyway) and the sad story did encourage compassion between few of the students while the others still condemned the villain for his deeds.

"That is not the way." one student waved her head.

"He should have sought help, not terrorized everyone." another student was angry.

"He is mad with grief."

"He needs help"

"What about that woman who is helping him, she clearly loves him."

"He should have moved on."

"What is her agenda?"

"What do you want from us?"

"What do you want from them?"

"Let go of your dead wife, you freak!"

The questions and statements rained like a summer shower from all sides soaking their brains.

Thousands of questions passed through Adrien's mind, he was not even sure if he wanted to know the answers to all of them. Why? How? When? … But the only one that lingered was what to do now? His father never let go of his mother. But she might have been alive all this time? And trapped in the Agreste mansion? He could not think about that.

"I didn't know, I thought he started to have feelings for Nathalie … " He trailed off while he whispered to Marinette. Yeah, he thought his mother was gone in some sense, dead, missing or something. His father was always secretive about everything, as if Adrien was not able to handle a single fact, a single grasp of reality related to his life (and the fact that his father was a supervillain might prove hard pill to swallow for anyone).

Outside, Hawk Moth was gathering the little pieces of himself together. Scarlet Peacock stood by his side. She always stood by his side. She always helped. She would do anything for him. She did everything for him, everything he ever asked of her, and more. Nathalie used the broken miraculous and transformed into Mayura. She helped him terrorize Paris. He saw her transform. He saw her suffer too. He showed concern for her well being and Nathalie saw care, she saw love. Because when one is as cold as her boss, any kindness that they give is interpreted as far more affection than it might actually be. And he still loved the shadow that was left of his wife more than he loved her, alive and adoring, supportive and always by his side, even when she donned the magical suit in all its glory, even when she was loosing her health for it.

So she helped him up, she held her hands out and pulled him up to his feet. Because that was something she always did. He did not look into her eyes, he did not have to, she was akumatized and he was in her head. He knew how she felt, he knew what she was thinking. And he said nothing.

Pema listened carefully to what Marinette and Adrien talked while they were hiding behind her back. It was not much of a hide out, but at least they were not straight in front of Hawk Moth sentimonster. The other sentimonsters were turned with their backs as they watched the other students.

"I cant believe all this. My mother wielded a miraculous. She made my cousin. Felix is … he is a sentimonster? That made her ill. Where is she? Where is she?" Adrien spoke quietly to Marinette one sentence at a time and she simply patted his back and held him. She was only trying to keep him as calm and as composed as possible. She did not want him to turn desperate.

"Where is she?" Pema asked Hawk Moth sentimonster out loud. It seemed a logical question at that point and it bothered the boy behind her. And he could not have asked the question himself without endangering himself so she did it for him. And Adrien felt grateful for that.

Tenzin frowned but kept his eyes trained on Hawk Moth. He did not continue the conversation as he pondered what to do next. Pema had beaten him to it. He was not offended or something, he was merely surprised and unsure if that was the right thing to ask right now. The question was as good as any. And it might just work.

Hawk Moth sentimonster raised his eyes towards Pema and glared. Then he switched his eyes towards the old monk. The mask on his head glowed.

"I want to help her. I want her back." Hawk Moth spoke quietly. "For my son." he added after a pause and in a different tone.

Adrien winced when he was mentioned and Marinette kept him steady. Dorje put his arm to the side and raised his hand and put it on the boys shoulder. For him? His father became a monster because of him? Because he wanted his mother. Oh, the guilt! But his father never asked Adrien what he wanted. The truth was, Adrien wished for his mother for a while, he still missed her, but he let go of her. He was living his life the only way he knew how. His father always did what was best for him, but him in that sentence was not Adrien, it was Gabriel Agreste.

"The new wielder of the peacock miraculous, she seems fine." Tenzin spoke slowly and with concern. If the woman who used to wield the miraculous had died because of using it then the new wielder was also in danger. The old monk wanted to test his idea so he switched the subject in the direction of the broken miraculous.

"She is fine and she is willing to help whatever way she can." Hawk Moth replied sternly.

"The broken miraculous does not affect her?" Tenzin asked.

"It affected her, but I fixed that." the villain brushed off the old monk.

"So, you have repaired the miraculous then?" Tenzin raised his eyebrows.

"Of course I have." Hawk Moth raised his chin proudly. "I know what to do."

'But not before his wife got ill' was a thought that passed through several minds.

"We might be able to help your wife, but we need to examine her. Where is she?" Tenzin repeated the question in the end. He assumed she was not there, she was nowhere near the temple for sure.

"There is no other help. I need the miraculous of Chat Noir and Ladybug to make a wish and get her back." Hawk Moth snarled. He was back to his usual self. There was no question about it. There was no more sorrow, no remorse.

"There is a price to pay for what you want." Tenzin warned.

"I don't care." Hawk Moth snarled. "I know what I have to do. I know all your secrets." the villain snarled at the old monk. His self confidence was as big as ever.

"Someone else would have to take her place." Tenzin continued eyeing the villain carefully. The old monk knew very well that the knowledge Hawk Moth could have had to be limited to the knowledge stored in the book of Lore. Of course, the knowledge stored there was vast, and he could learn how to fix a miraculous from there. But there were other secrets to the trade that Hawk Moth could not have known.

"Take anyone you want. You can take anyone from those two who are wielding the miraculous now. You can take both, what do I care?" the villain snarled again.

Those words sucked the breath out of Adrien. Marinette did not feel much better, and she held him tightly as she hoped that helped. At least, it helped her.

"Would you bring her here so that we can help her?" Tenzin smiled gently.

Hawk Moth stared at the old monk from above. He stared with his eyes wide and stayed silent. The proposal was not refused instantly. There was some hope.

"Where is she?" Tenzin repeated the question.

Adrien sucked in a breath as if he surfaced after a long dive.

The students were becoming restless and louder.

Chat Noir sentimonster extended his staff and pushed them away.

Ladybug sentimonster threw her yoyo and it wrapped around the four central pillars forming a makeshift fence between the students and the sentimonsters with the three monks and a few stray teenagers, Marinette and Adrien included.

Marinette looked at what was happening in horror. Her powers were used against the civilians. Well it was the sentimonster shaped after her but those were her powers. As she moved her head, Adrien looked up and saw Chat Noir sentimonster pushing students away with his stick. It made him angry. He woke up from his desperate state and observed the surroundings. He wanted to release his anger in a fight. He wanted to fight them, the sentimonsters.

On the other side Monkey King threw his banana like a boomerang.

"If I bring her here, will you help her?" Hawk Moth sentimonster observed he surroundings carefully.

Tenzin observed the villain and stroked his beard. He could not promise that. He was not willing to help that woman at any cost. And he definitely was not willing to do it the way Hawk Moth wanted.

"I am in power here." Hawk Moth sentimonster snarled. "Look around. I am in control." he spread his arms wide. "All these sentimonsters are shaped after the heroes they represent and have their powers. Come on, call in your superheroes! They can all come and they could not defend you."

Tenzin produced absolutely no reaction to the threat.

Adrien wanted to jump around the monks and attack Hawk Moth sentimonster face to face. Marinette clung onto him with all her might and that steadied him and reminded him to stay still. But, he was worried, what if the sentimonster shaped after his alter ego tried to use cataclysm on the students?

The students were shouting, mostly insults to Hawk Moth.

"It is pointless to attack him. He is a sentimonster, we have to go to the source." Marinette whispered to Adrien and he calmed down again.

"If you are in power, if you are in control" Tenzin spoke calmly while he looked Hawk Moth straight into the sentimonster eyes while the students around roared. "then you could safely bring her here for us to examine her." Tenzin motioned his hand for the first time away from his beard and towards Peagasus.

Hawk Moth stared at the old monk, turned to the Peagasus sentimonster and then back at the old monk. There was a notion of disbelief in the eyes of the villain. He received an offer that was tempting him. He was able to demonstrate his powers and at the same time, maybe this ols monk was about to give in and let him have his wish?

"You could tell us where she is and we can go to her or you could bring her here." Tenzin negotiated. He knew that Hawk Moth was one very imaginative and resourceful supervillain, probably the most capable he ever saw. He trusted that the villains he created had approximately the same powers as the superheroes that wielded the miraculous.

"Fine. We are going to my home, then." Hawk Moth sentimonster spoke quietly.

The purple mask on the Peagasus sentimonster glowed stronger and with one wide circular motion of his hand he created a teleportation portal.


	74. Chapter 74 - Love in the basement

Love in the basement

Pegasus made a circle with his hands and created a teleportation portal. A vertical circle glowed in the large room an everyone stared at it.

Marinette felt her insides implode. That meant all these sentimonsters really had the powers as the superheroes they represented? She knew that all Ladybug copies that appeared so far, even from a nightmare akuma, were able to generate Lucky Charm. Was the Chat Noir sentimonster able to cataclysm the temple? She looked towards Viperion warily. The only one missing was Queen Bee. She wandered why Hawk Moth had skipped her.

Adrien stared at the portal. What was on the other side? Agreste mansion? His mother? He took a deep breath, he was about to find out.

Hawk Moth sentimonster walked through the portal without a word.

Tenzin got on his feet and walked slowly towards the portal. Dorje followed on his side. The large man was ready to defend and help the old monk any way he could.

Adrien checked his black cap that covered his hair and the black hood of his fluffy onesie was in place too as he pushed towards the teleportation portal. Marinette was by his side, so he grabbed her hand. Pema put herself in front of them with the intention to protect them and help hide their identities for as long as possible.

Marinette knew that going through that portal and facing whatever was on the other side was going to be hard, but keeping Adrien away would be harder. There was no way to keep him on this side of the portal without drawing too much attention. He would probably expose his identity to the other sentimonsters if he did not go through. She also hoped that Hawk Moth was not about to use this excursion to check on his son.

They passed the portal and the Viperion and Carapace sentimonsters followed.

The last one to go through the portal was Mayura sentimonster.

The other monsters stayed in the temple to guard against the students who were rather scared and angry and few of them were probably raging now.

The monks, two teenagers and four sentimonsters were in a huge dark room. It was hard to see anything around there and they all looked to the side where Hawk Moth sentimonster went. Adrien missed his night vision. He felt Plagg phased up into his hood and he knew that kwami must have observed the space, but he did not dare to say anything. It was eerily quiet. The only sound was coming from the people breathing around him, the people were breathing heavily, but there was no sound from the sentimonsters.

Hawk Moth sentimonster reached some device that hung from the ceiling and pressed a button that switched on the lights.

The lights first switched on at the far end of the room. There were white butterflies flying around. Well, they did not look white at the firs sight, they looked black because they flew in the dark part of the room with a well lit wall as a background. Adrien and Marinette both winced and expected the swarm of butterflies to fly over to them and akumatize them (as they were in a proper emotional state for that, definitely).

Another light switched on.

There were numerous plants and the butterflies were obviously white. And there was a large circular window at the far end of the huge hall.

Then the next light switched on, closer to them, and the next one. There was something like a metal bridge leading to them through the large room. And the dark surface below it was probably water.

One more set of lights flickered on, closer to them.

Each sound they made produced an echo that somehow sounded even louder than the original noise, as if the large room amplified it.

Adrien held Marinette's hand like an anchor.

This was in the Agreste mansion.

He lived in this house.

He never saw this room.

The next light even closer to them lit up.

They could clearly see the butterflies now. They flew aimlessly. They were white and they were harmless.

Tikki was restless in Marinette's hood, she was pulling her ponytail as if she wanted the girl to turn around. But Marinette stared in the directions where the ligts were switching on as if hypnotized.

The large circular window at the end of the room showed it was night in Paris.

Another light went on.

Hawk Moth sentimonster was walking over to them across the long metal bridge.

Plagg patted Adrien on the neck and nuzzled the side of his face that was hidden in the hood. Kwami knew his chosen needed as much reassurance as he could give.

Another light went on, straight above their heads.

Marinette was the first one who turned her head and saw a huge container that resembled a sarcophagus. Tikki finally stopped pulling her hair.

Hawk Moth approached it and stood between the sarcophagus and the group of people and sentimonsters. He stood tall and proud, but there was something in his posture that was giving away a sense of insecurity. He had brought strangers in his lair.

"She is inside." he said and he held his hands on his back. He was building up his posture to look threatening to the group before him while he was protecting his most treasured possession. (Mark the words)

"Can we see her?" Tenzin asked quietly. His posture was timid and serving. He was not doing anything that might cause Hawk Moth to feel as if he was not in the complete control of the events.

Hawk Moth sentimonster took a step back, then he turned to the side and pressed a button on the sarcophagus.

The non transparent cover retreated to the sides.

There was a woman in white suit, her long blond hair was perfectly arranged to her side. Her eyes were closed. Her face looked so peaceful, tranquil, as if she was sleeping. Her arms were placed over her body, one over another. But, her chest was not moving.

Adrien gaped at what he saw. His eyes were wide open. He stopped breathing for a while.

Marinette lifted her hand ready to put it over his mouth if he spoke. She had to protect him from revealing who he was, both as Adrien Agreste and as Chat Noir. She only hoped that all the talks they had with the monks had prepared him for this. But one look at the boy and the body of his mother was sufficient for her to understand – there was nothing they could have done, nothing was there to be said that could have prepared Adrien to see his mother like this. They simply did not know.

Adrien took in a deep breath, slowly and soundlessly.

He raised his own hand and put it over his mouth as he mouthed 'mom'.

His eyes began to fill up with tears.

Dorje took one step forward and stood between Hawk Moth and the boy but in such a way that Adrien could still see the sarcophagus. Marinette held his hand as tight as she could.

'Don't break. Please do not break.' she pleaded inside her while she admired the fact that he did not break down already. This was too much to take in. His mother looked beautiful. But as she watched the sarcophagus and the body of Adrien's mother she could not help but feel as if she was looking at two shells, one was sarcophagus and the other was the body inside.

Adrien simply stared at the body of his mother. In this position and through the glass she looked the way he remembered her.

"We do not need the container." Tenzin spoke quietly. He looked at the monstrous gadget with barely hidden disgust. He had never seen anything similar. And to think that this man had put his beloved wife in something that resembled a coffin and kept her there in a place that was probably the basement of his home. The thought was repulsing.

"I am not removing her out from this sarcophagus." Hawk Moth sentimonster glared at the old monk. "It protects and preserves her body."

Pema blinked at the sight before her. She could recognize a secondary cover, made from glass, the transparent cover that still shielded the body inside from the outside world.

Adrien relaxed a bit. So his mother was here, she looked so gentle, just like he remembered her. He expected her to open her eyes and smile at him. He expected her to talk to him, to laugh with him and to keep him company. But she was not moving. Her chest was motionless. He looked at her a little longer and then he let the feeling from his guts spill all the way to his brain.

Suddenly she looked like a doll to him, like an empty vessel. There was her body, as beautiful and perfect and attractive and elegant and dashing as always. His mother, the spirit of his mother, her soul, her life, was gone. He could feel the truth inside him. He was right this whole time. His mother was gone.

"It is unnecessary." Tenzin protested quietly. The sarcophagus produced some kind of force field that prevented the old monk from sensing what was stored inside. Was it a live body? Was her spirit still there, he could not tell.

"You can examine her here." Hawk Moth stated matter of factly and took a step back while he put both of his hands and the stick behind his back and joined them.

Tenzin took a few careful steps towards the sarcophagus and placed his hand on top of the glass.

"Can you remove the cover, please?" The old monk asked gently and looked straight into the eyes of the sentimonster, pleading. The old monk saw the body of a woman that used to contain a soul and perhaps both could be saved.

"Is that necessary?" Hawk Moth brushed him off. "As you can see, only the miraculous from Ladybug and Chat Noir can enable me to bring her back."

Tenzin took a deep breath.

'To you maybe, but not for me.' was what was on the tip of his tongue but the old monk wandered if it was wise to say that out loud.

"I need to feel her energy. Please remove the glass cover." Tenzin repeated his plea while he placed both of his hands on top of the glass cover. He could not feel anything, he felt no energy coming out from the body. There was nothing left. But it might have been due to the protective cover.

Hawk Moth stared at the hands with disgust. This old man wanted to put his hands, (his hands!) onto the body of his beloved wife, his beautiful and perfect Emilie Agreste. The picture perfect wife, someone to look at and admire.

"She was always full of energy." Finally he relented. He remembered the way she was when she was alive and well, how powerful she radiated when she was transformed and how he could sense that power in her even when she was in her civilian form. Somehow, she kept that look even when she was not transformed. He could see it in her civilian form once he saw her transformed. But when she was transformed, she was the power to reckon with, she argued him and she often got her way. That was how she made baby Felix for her sister.

Hawk Moth pressed a button and the glass cover slid aside.

Tenzin walked along the sarcophagus and put his hands over hear heart and forehead. He stood like that, his old body was outstretched to the limits, for a few seconds, but it looked like an eternity. Then he retrieved his hands and Hawk Moth sentimonster instantly pushed the button to close the glass cover back on the sarcophagus.

"We will have to bring her to the temple for further examination and healing." Tenzin spoke solemnly. The old monk knew what he felt, but he thought that was the right thing to do. Maybe this strange device prevented him from sensing what was still there.

"No" Hawk Moth screamed. "We are not moving her." There was no way he was moving what remained from his beloved wife away from this perfect shelter he created for her. He spared no resources. This room was their little playground where they spend their time while transformed. He wanted to keep her there, he wanted to protect her.

"We can't treat her here." The old monk spoke matter of factly. The room was full of negative energy, as if the air was filled with all the negative emotions that Hawk Moth ever used to create his akumas. He himself did not want to spend more time in there than was absolutely necessary.

Dorje was checking the space where they found themselves from the moment they entered. Pema was looking around as if sightseeing. Marinette looked around too as much as she could without letting go of Adrien. Adrien finally took his eyes off from his mother's body and looked around the room.

All of them could feel this space was ill posed, it whispered to their negative emotions, it fed them, it encouraged them to surface. But none of the four relented to the urge. Adrien clutched stronger to Marinette's hand. There was no wander he was never happy in this house. It was not a surprise it never felt warm, it never felt like home.

"I just want my family back." Hawk Moth replied. He wanted his picture perfect family back. "Give me the Ladybug and Chat Noir miraculous so I can change reality and bring her back to life."

The last words resonated in every person present. She was not alive. He knew she was not alive. How was her body preserved? Perhaps some strange magic.

Marinette contemplated if she could transform and call the police. But, the portal was so close, they could all escape back to the temple in Tibet. There was no way that police would be there in time, even if Ladybug called them. Besides, these were not Hawk Moth and Mayura, these were only the sentimonsters representing them.

"If you want me to try, I need to bring her to the temple." Tenzin spoke slowly as if he was explaining something to a small child. He had means there, he had additional magic stones that served for healing. He needed his instruments that healed the spirits. But, most importantly, he had to find out if there was any spirit left there to salvage.

"No, I will not let you move her. The device needs the electricity to preserve her. You do not have the electricity." Hawk Moth cut him off. She needed the best that money could buy.

"We do not need the sarcophagus, we can take only her body." Tenzin continued. He dared to propose that. He had dealt with the wielders of broken miraculous before (but they were chosen) and he had dealt with not-chosen wielders who got hurt by using the miraculous in a wrong way. But he himself never dealt with a combination. He heard about few such cases and each of them was different. And each time it was a pretentious ruler who has succumbed to a different mysterious illness.

Hawk Moth glared at the old monk. He wanted his wife back. This old man apparently could do something about that. Hawk Moth began to understand there was more to the magic of the miraculous that he knew. Perhaps, just perhaps, this old man was willing to help? Besides, he had presented his case clearly, perhaps he would be granted to make his wish if it was for something unselfish like saving the love of his life. He was entitled to it.

"Fine, we will move her but only with the sarcophagus." He could always teleport her back. He and Mayura created a sentimonster with the power of teleportation. They had all the power they wanted. They were in control. It was his call.

"We will carry the sarcophagus through the portal." Dorje spoke and took a step forward.

"No!" Hawk Moth snarled at him. "You shall not touch it. We will do that."

And with those words, Hawk Moth, Mayura, Viperion and Carapace sentimonsters took their positions around the sarcophagus. Hawk Moth and Viperion in the front, Carapace behind Hawk Moth and Mayura behind Viperion. They took the sarcophagus and carried it through the portal.

The three monks and two teenagers followed.

And the portal closed behind them.


	75. Chapter 75 - The Water Duty (2)

The Water Duty (2) Sorry for the complete absence of imagination when naming this chapter.

The whole group passed through the teleportation portal from the Hawk Moth lair into the large room in the temple that was still full of (rather concerned and loud) students.

The sentimonsters resembling Carapace, Viperion, Hawk Moth and Mayura pulled the sarcophagus carrying Emilie Agreste through the portal. The students surrounding the scene stared at them and wandered what was going on. But any activity in the middle of the room was followed by at least one phone filming the events. The students pushed towards the makeshift fence (mostly just to see better, not to really intervene because they were not sure what to do).

The moment the sentimonsters were all safely inside the large room, Carapace sentimonster called "Shelter!" and produced a large dome over the four sentimonsters and the sarcophagus. That produced another wave of surprise sighs and shouts from the students. And, of course, not a negligible number of photos taken.

Adrien felt his mind was swirling around. It was all surreal. That was the Agreste mansion, the house where he lived! Although he had never been in that room and they never went to the other parts of the house, he trusted it was really there. That was his mother in that glass coffin like a sleeping beauty she was. The whole arrangement resembled a fairy tale where a beautiful sleeping princess was waiting in a vast, but cold, castle for her prince charming, a fairy noble knight to rescue her form her terrible ordeal. Well, in this case the _princess_ was his mother and the prince charming was his charming father who was waging war against Parisian citizens in order to steal two magical pieces of jewellery from two kids (oh he was very much aware they were merely children from the start) in order to revive her like a noble knight from a fairy tale he was. Perhaps the fact that he wore a ring and fed a tiny black cat that could float in the thin air or phase through solid objects as well as transom him into a magical superhero and give him supernatural powers was not the strangest thing he ever encountered in his life? Actually, it was probably the only thing that kept him sane through the whole ordeal. Well, it was Plagg and now the girl who lead him through the portal.

Marinette wandered what to do, except to do her best to keep Adrien together. Those were sentimonsters, she was supposed to fight them. But, she needed her partner for that. The sentimonsters had the same powers as the superheroes. She knew the infected objects were mostly their jewellery and in a few exceptions, their weapons. But they would still have to fight. 'They' included Chat Noir, and Adrien was in no condition to fight. On the other hand, everything she saw affected her too. She could not deny that, but she kept herself composed because she had to be strong for Adrien.

Dorje and Pema helped Tenzin go back to the temple through the teleportation portal while the last ones to go through were Adrien and Marinette.

The monks and the two teenagers stared at the protective dome that was formed over the sarcophagus. Tenzin sighed. He needed to approach the body.

All the noises that came from the students brought both teens back to reality. There were civilians here, and there were many of them. And there were sentimonsters, with real magical powers that could do significant harm. They had to act, they had to protect the students. They will have to deal with the feelings and what they saw later.

Adrien boiled inside and wanted to jump on the Chat Noir sentimonster when he used his baton to keep the students away, but Marinette stopped him. It was good that he averted his eyes from the body of his mother. And the room full of monsters and civilians provided sufficient distraction for both of them to focus on something else, to think about the actual fight that they were about to have.

"It is not these guys we are after. We have to find the real Hawk Moth and Mayura." Marinette whispered. They were just two civilians surrounded by sentimonsters with the powers of the superheroes. It was futile to start anything in there. They were both aware of that. It was just hard to stand at the side (and none of them was very good at standing at the side).

"I bet she is akumatized again." Adrien replied. "And they are probably outside." He clenched his fists, he looked around for the first opportunity for action. He wanted to jump, he wanted to fight, he wanted to do something, anything, because he could not just stand there and watch any more.

"The last time, her akumatized object was her fan and I need your cataclysm. Are you up for the fight?" she whispered back as she studied their surroundings.

"Always, My Lady." he smirked back. Was he ready for a fight? Oh yes, he was! He would be already in it. But he understood that they needed a plan.

They needed to escape out from the temple and there were no escape routes opened. They were trapped with the sentimonsters just like the students were trapped outside the small ring created by Ladybug sentimonster. And they looked around for an escape route rather frantically, it was obvious to anyone who watched, apparently, because the opportunity was literally thrown at them.

"This is ridiculous, utterly ridiculous. There is no water to wash up, there is no water to make breakfast. Everyone is just enjoying the show." The short lady, the government official that served as the student's guide on their was over to the temple shouted loudly in the air and clapped her hands.

Scarlet Peacock sentimonster stared at her from the other side of the net created by the Ladybug sentimonster.

"Come on, water duty, you two." the government official pointed towards Adrien and Marinette. The two teens clutched to each other, and joined their heads, covered with the hoods from their onesies.

"Yes, you two, no evading the water duty, let's go." the guide motioned her hand as if encouraging them to hurry up.

Scarlet Peacock sentimonster raised her hand while Ryuko stood in between the two teens and the guide and stared at them. Both Adrien and Marinette lowered their heads as if they were ashamed but mostly to hide their faces from the sentimonster.

Hawk Moth sentimonster finally stopped staring at the sarcophagus and turned around.

"What is the commotion there?" He shouted annoyed at the noise.

"We have to continue the life here as normal, and that means someone has to go and fetch the water. I am waiting for those two." The government guide motioned towards Adrien and Marinette. "It is their turn, they are really hard to _find_ sometimes." she stressed the word find. "But they are very efficient once they start."

Hawk Moth sentimonster sighed and waved off his hand as if he swatted a fly away.

"Just get rid of them, we don't need them here." he spoke from under the shelter.

Dorje and Pema were more concerned about Adrien and Marinette. The two teens approached the fence that Ladybug sentimonster created using her yoyo. Adrien looked at the sentimonsters hiding his face behind this hood. They were very believable in their first appearance, but, opposed to the first time he encountered Ladybug sentimonster, he was not fooled this time. Besides the knowledge that these could not possibly be them, there was a feeling deep in his gut that told him these were not the real heroes.

He sighed, he was still learning. He probably had much to learn. Seven years here, with Marinette? No big deal. It was not as if he had a home that he wanted to come back to.

They lied on the floor and rolled under the fence to reach the other side next to the government guide. The students moved back from the fence to make space for them. They got to their feet and the government guide stared at them with her hands on her hips.

"Come on, go! You know the drill!" the woman ordered and the two teens slowly found their way through the students to the entrance to the large room and then further down the hallway.

They picked up two empty water containers each and went out through the main entrance. There, just opposite the entrance, not more than ten metres away, on a top of one large rock stood the real Hawk Moth and Scarlet Peacock, busy with controlling their monsters. Both of them noticed the two youngsters that just got out from the temple.

The teens bowed their heads and walked swiftly to the steps that lead to the temple. Both of them observed the two villains carefully without being noticed. Well, even if the two villains noticed that the two kids paid them particular attention it could be easily brushed off as their curiosity and strange persons they did not see so often. They were used to students carying water containers around at all hours.

The two teens walked down the steps quickly.

"She is akumatized for sure, but I think he is too." Marinette whispered as soon as she deemed it was safe.

"But have you seen the akumatized object? Is it the fan again?" Adrien whispered back.

"I'm not sure, but I would chose a different object if I was them." Marinette replied. Something was telling her it was the case.

"You should find a place to transform." Tikki chirped as she phased all the way up to Marinette's hood. But, there were few hidden places on the steps and they would have to leave the containers. That was a sign that was about to give them away.

"Water, who needs water? You should carry cheese. Why is there no cheese duty?" Plagg whined.

"They are right." Plagg gave her a proud look hoping she was talking to him. "We should transform." Marinette whispered. Plagg rolled his eyes and turned away muttering something about the lack of respect.

"If you say so My Lady." Adrien smirked as he looked at her face. He was in his fight mode, he felt good in the fight mode, he was just a boy who would transform into Chat Noir and fight some monsters. He was looking forward to the physical activity. She blushed back and turned away. But too late, he already saw that.

They reached the bottom of the steps and went to the stream. There, they left their empty water containers to get filled. Adrien reached in his pocket and threw a piece of cheese in the air before him as they walked around one large rock. Plagg annihilated it in one swift move.

"Plagg, claws out." Adrien grinned and transformed into Chat Noir.

Marinette waved her head. "Tikki, spots on!" she called and transformed into Ladybug.

Chat Noir put his hands on his hips.

"So what's the plan this time, Bugaboo." he asked and smirked again.

Ladybug tolled her eyes. "You know how I feel about that nickname." she retorted.

"You know you like it." Chat Noir pouted. He was back in his usual banter, anything to put his mind away from what he just saw.

"Lucky Charm!" Ladybug called as she ignored his reply.

She got a Lego truck that carried a container, red with black spots, of course. Ladybug frowned, there was nothing showing her what to do except the container itself. It was a clue.

"The akuma must be something in the container or the container itself." Ladybug whispered.

"We do not exactly have the time to search the container My Lady." Chat Noir sighed. "Now that you are on a timer. We should go inside and break every item they have there."

Ladybug took several steps away from the rock as she started to walk away before she motioned for him to follow.

"Come along Chaton! I have a task just for you." she smiled and put the container truck below her arm.

The army commanding officer was shaving himself in front of the mirror. He placed the mirror close to the window to be able to use daylight to better see what he was doing.

He already witnessed many strange things since he arrived to that temple. He still did not assemble and send a complete report. He always dropped out a detail or two (or almost anything interesting that actually happened). He was not that crazy to put anything in that report that would make his superior officer think he was going crazy. Oh no. Nothing supernatural was going on there. There were no superheroes nor supervillains. It did not matter that his secretary documented the events from last night so well. He was not reporting that. But, he stopped his shaving long time ago as he contemplated what to do next, he should have his secretary check those social networks. That temple up there was full of students and they have bragged about their experiences for sure. Then he should really produce a report. Uh.

As he looked in the mirror, he could see in it and through the window, two rather strange figures. One was dressed in black and had cat ears and a tail. And the other had red suit with large black spots and carried a Lego truck with a container in the same pattern under her arm.

He rubbed his eyes.

He looked again to the mirror.

Then he turned and looked through the window.

The strange looking pair approached one container.

"Can you destroy the container with everything in it?" Ladybug whispered.

"Sure thing, my Lady" Chat Noir smirked. "Cataclysm." he whispered and casually leaned onto the container. The outer shell rusted and disintegrated and he touched the floor and the desk inside. It turned to ash and fell apart. Finally the tablet on the desk disintegrated too and a violet butterfly fluttered out.

The army commanding officer stared at the scene with his eyes wide open. He thought he heard that the earrings on the girl released a warning signal. He stared while Ladybug caught the violet butterfly in her yoyo and released a white butterfly. Finally she threw the toy truck in the air and called "Miraculous Ladybug." A swirl of ladybugs appeared and washed over the container and it reappeared. Then the swirl of ladybugs flew up towards the temple to fix whatever was wrong there.

The two strangely dressed kids bumped their fists and greeted each other with "Pound it!"

After that, the boy took his baton and extended it while the girl launched her yoyo upwards on the cliff and both of them went high up and disappeared onto the cliff.

Hawk Moth felt the akumatized object was destroyed and akuma purified while Scarlet Peacock transformed back to Mayura.

"Oh no. Emilie." he screamed. Mayura was dazed and looked at him rather confused. She did not remember the events. Only Hawk Moth did.

"The sentimonsters teleported Emilie to the temple, quick!" he shouted and they both ran inside the temple.

Ladybug and Chat Noir dropped to the ground on the other side of the cliff and detransformed.

"Cheese. I need cheese." Plagg whined. Adrien automatically reached into his pocked and produced one piece. Plagg floated over to his hand and annihilated it again. Adrien snickered. Well, at least this time Plagg really supplied a massive cataclysm. Marinette rolled her eyes as she produced a cookie for Tikki.

"You know, Hawk Moth and Mayura are still up there on the top of the cliff." Adrien winked.

"Too close to the temple." Marinette waved her head. "Besides, I bet Hawk Moth ran inside the moment Ladybugs washed over them. The sentimonsters should be gone."

"Yeah." Adrien remembered what was awaiting for them on the top of the cliff and why Hawk Moth was probably running inside the temple.

The water containers were full and overflowed with water and each of them took two.

They climbed the steps to the temple slowly. Not so much due to the weight of the water they carried but due to the weight of what was waiting for them on the top.


	76. Chapter 76 - Lifting the Shield(s)

Lifting the shield(s)

When Marinette and Adrien left the large room in the temple, Tenzin, Pema and Dorje knew they did not have much time to do what was needed. And they needed to get closer to the body of the previous wielder of the Peacock miraculous. Tenzin wanted to evaluate her condition to see if there was anything left to salvage. But saving her meant that Hawk Moth was getting what he wanted, on the other hand it was not the way he wanted it. There was no time to contemplate on that, there was no time for philosophy, for endless conversations and the exchange of arguments for and against. They had to act. Besides, without knowing what was left to save, there was no point in starting the discussion.

"Lift the shield, please. I need to get closer to her to be able to help her." Tenzin spoke calmly but the fact that his hands were folded before him and away from his beard spoke volumes about the urgency of the matter to Dorje and Pema.

"No, I am keeping her safe like this." Hawk Moth sentimonster replied sternly while he did not remove his eyes from the body of his wife. Tenzin sighed. He was not keeping her safe as long as he was keeping her close to him. That was obvious. That was why he needed that awful device, the sarcophagus. But, there was no way of using that argument because the old teacher did not want to reveal any secrets of the temple itself to the two villains.

The two younger monks looked at each other. Pema raised her eyebrows, Dorje gave a look towards Tenzin and the sarcophagus and then back at her. She looked away and then back at him. He visibly sighed and waved his head towards the door through which Adrien and Marinette left and shrugged.

"Please lift the shield. She is perfectly safe here." Tenzin repeated in the same calm voice staring at the eyes of the only sentimonster who looked in his direction, and that was the one in the shape of Mayura.

But the words of the old monk were met with silence. Mayura sentimonster watched over the old monk and followed his every move but kept silent. Tenzin did not seem affected, as if he expected such treatment.

"I can't help her like this." He added and he spread his hands to show them and somehow demonstrate that he was helpless outside. Hawk Moth watched what was going on inside, him and Scarlet Peacock had remote control on the sentimonsters sent in the temple and Tenzin knew very well with whom he was negotiating.

Pema shrugged and sighed and her eyes turned away in the same direction and Dorje gave her one firm nod once she looked back. What followed looked like dancing. He made one smooth motion around her and approached the edge of the ring where the threads formed an opening about a metre below the ceiling. He crouched. Pema made two fast and long strides, and jumped towards him and then jumped on his shoulders. He straightened up and she flew through the hole. She landed safely on the other side while few students moved away so she would not fall on them.

The sentimonsters exchanged several looks. Dorje stood tall below the opening and stared at the sentimonsters ready to stop them or at least slow them down if any of them was about to follow the young monk. But they simply followed the woman with their eyes as she disappeared behind a tapestry. They could barely see where she had gone as she was quick and kept low hidden behind the students and she moved several tapestries before she actually went behind one.

The students released many "aahs", "oohs" and "looks" as well as other noises of admiration at what just happened and wandered why she did exactly that.

Instead of sending any of the sentimonsters after the monk who escaped the room, Hawk Moth wanted to keep them all in the large room and guard Emile's body. He decided to use a different approach to find out what was going on, so Hawk Moth sentimonster turned around and stared at Tenzin. It was time for the villain to show of his 'negotiation' skills. Because he was a successful businessman, negotiations were his skill, right?

"What are you up to?" he snarled at the old monk. The sentimonster towered high, but behind the shield he did not look that intimidating at all. Actually, the scene looked a bit silly. Because Hawk Moth wanted to look intimidating while he himself was hiding behind a shield created by another sentimonster.

"I need to get inside to be able to help her." Tenzin answered. Which was not exactly answering the question he was asked.

That was not what Hawk Moth wanted to know. But as if he was aware of the stupidity of the scene, the Rena Rouge sentimonster played her flute. Both Tenzin and Dorje noticed her move the weapon towards her mouth and knew they should not trust their eyes from then one.

However, there was a scene unfolding before them. The shell had moved up and Hawk Moth took a step forward to tower above the old monk. But Tenzin kept staring at the same spot where the eyes of the sentimonster used to be.

"Why did that woman escape? Where did she go to?" the sentimonster had a wicked grin on his face as if he was about to attack.

Tenzin took his time to answer. This time he stroked his beard and stared back and way up to the face of the sentimonster that wanted to scare him. He took one more step right to the shell and placed the other hand on it.

The illusion disappeared.

Hawk Moth sentimonster glared even more and took a step closer. The real Hawk Moth outside was getting angry. He had a feeling he missed something. There was more action going on and he was not in control of it.

"What is she up to?" Hawk Moth snarled as he pointed in the direction where the monk had left. Chat Noir, Rena Rouge and Ryuko sentimonsters went a step or two closer to Dorje who simply stood there and looked at all of them from above (he was a tall grown adult man and they were the size of the transformed kids).

Ladybug sentimonster kept the string of her yoyo tight.

Soon, they could hear the steps coming from the other side of the room. It was Pema. She carried a parcel wrapped in cloth. She pushed through the students who mostly moved away to let her go through. She got all the way to the fence. Scarlet Peacock sentimonster approached closer and stared down at the young woman. She stared at the woman and the parcel without giving away any emotion nor revealing what Hawk Moth, who controlled her, thought about the action. Did he understand what was about to happen, was the sentimonster about to attack Pema and prevent her?

Pema was undeterred. She put the parcel to the floor and it sounded with a clang. She took out two metal plates with handles. They looked like two lids for a pot. She took one in each hand and banged them. Loud sound of metal clashing into metal echoed through the room. But it was not just the volume, or the frequency, there was something else, something nobody could just describe at the moment. It was as if one of the frequencies produced by the instruments was resonating in their ears and going straight to their brains. It was painful to listen.

The woman who produced the sound suffered too. She distorted her face in pain, but her eyes showed only resolve and determination. She was not about to stop just because she felt uncomfortable or the action had caused the physical pain for her. Because, she was the closest and her hands were taken, her ears were uncovered. Everyone covered their ears once the sound resonated through the room. Except, Dorje and Tenizin did it before she hit.

Even sentimonsters covered their ears while holding their weapons in one of their hands. Ladybug sentimonster struggled to cover one of her ears while she held her yoyo in it. Carapace sentimonster held the shield but tried to cover the ears with his shoulders. Outside, Hawk Moth and Scarlet Peacock also covered their ears, because they could hear what sentimonsters heard inside and the sound was so strong they instinctively did it first before they directed the sentimonsters to cover their ears.

Pema did not pay too much attention on what was going on, she had a task to do. She made three nods and then hit the metal instruments again. Then she stared at the sentimonster before her for a brief moment.

Scarlet Peacock looked like she was in pain. Although her ears were covered. That was enough to give the young monk the strength to continue. Because what she was doing was working. The sound bounced off the walls and through the room, but students felt as if they could feel the sound pass straight through their bodies, the fact that they covered their ears suppressed only part of it, even if they had much better sound isolation over their ears than their own hands, the sound would still reach them through their bodies.

Pema counted the rhythm with her foot, looked at Dorje and then did a third bang while she kicked the parcel that was on the floor before her feet. Her face showed a pailful expression for a brief moment before she returned to the one of determination.

The parcel rolled over the floor and under net to the other side and behind the Scarlet Peacock sentimonster..

The moment Pema did her third bang, Dorje was already walking over (and around the three dazed sentimonsters that stood before him dazed by the sound attack) while he covered his ears. The bang still echoed around the room when he bent over. He caught the parcel with his foot and on then stretched one arm and picked it up from the floor.

Pema breathed heavily and she was showing signs of exhaustion. Dorje looked at her as he unwrapped the parcel and gave one stone to Tenzin. It was a plain grey stone the size of a fist.

Tenzin laid the stone on the shell.

Pema hit the two lids one more time at the same moment the stone touched the shell.

The shell shattered to pieces.

Carapace sentimonster screamed in pain.

Tenzin outstretched his arm backwards and was given two small red stones.

"I need to do this to help her." Tenzin said firmly and walked over to the sarcophagus. Viperion was the first one to jump in front of him as he activated his 'second chance' bracelet. Tenzin smirked, it was good that Hawk Moth waited that long with that particular trick. All the other tricks he used so far had worked. Hawing a sentimonster able to release a cataclysm was what caused shivers through anyone who understood the issue. But 'second chance' activated meant that the old monk had only one chance, and he had to do it right. But now, there was not much time left. He was sure of that.

Dorje jumped after the old monk as he picked up the grey stone from the floor and held it out towards Hawk Moth sentimonster and then the others as if he was offering it to them. But the sentimonsters kept away, Hawk Moth did not know what the stone was.

"I knew they had more magical stones in there." he snarled outside. "And now I know for certain. They have just confirmed that to me." And Hawk Moth also knew he missed a chance to follow the monk and see where she took the stones from, so he was beating himself internally. But it was important to keep the body of his beloved wife safe, so he was not sorry. He had made his choice.

Pema was ready to do one more bang but it was obvious that doing that was taking a heavy toll on her. She watched the action that unfolded carefully. On the other hand, Scarlet Peacock sentimonster looked as if she would jump on the young woman, but was too busy holding her ears.

Tenzin was already close to the sarcophagus, he held the two small items hidden in his fists and was about to put the two red stones on the forehead and the chest on the body of the woman who was stored there.

All the sentimonsters jumped after him lead by the two shaped after Hawk Moth and Mayura.

Dorje managed to deter both of them once, but he only had 'normal' human strength, not the magical strength and he was taken and pulled and finally pushed away. They were just about to grab Tenzin when a swirl of ladybugs washed over the room.

Tenzin placed the two stones at just that moment to the forehead and the chest of the body.

Viperion swiftly moved his right hand towards the bracelet on his left hand.

"Sec … " he managed to say but it was too late.

The sentimonsters and the sarcophagus disappeared. Dorje threw himself to the side and caught the body that was left behind.

Pema collapsed on the floor. She slumped on her knees and released the two metal lids that she was holding on a sleeping bag that was in front of her so they did not produced one more painful clang.

About six monks appeared and surrounded the body, Tenzin and Dorje.

Dorje made a signal with his head and two monks left to pick up Pema from the floor. One of them was checking on Pema while the other picked up the cloth from the floor and carefully wrapped the two lids. Pema shut her eyes closed while the other monk put his hands over her ears and hummed a single tone. Then he extracted two earplugs from he ears. She was taking deep breaths and they were helping her up.

The students watched in awe what happened and kept their hands over their ears until the saw the two instruments safely folded in the cloth. After that, there was a round of applause and many nodes of appreciation as well as thumbs up towards the monks. The student body did not pay too much attention to the body Dorje held. The shield hid most of the action from them. They concluded the attack was finished and they were about to get washed, have breakfast or continue whatever they were about to do, more than a few wanted to just go back to sleep.

"We did it. It worked. Get her away." Tenzin ordered and Dorje disappeared from the large room followed by most of the monks. He did his trick. It was time to face the real villains.

Note: the miraculous Ladybug cure would return Emilie and the sarcophagus back to the Hawk Moth lair somewhere in the Agreste mansion. Just like it did with the train ...


	77. Chapter 77 - The Steps

The Steps

Marinette and Adrien were sent away on the water duty. And the two teens were know to fulfil their duties and obligations. Water containers were heavy stuff (while they were filled with water.). The air on high altitudes was thin, it took more breaths than at sea level to keep the oxygen levels in the blood. The temple was on top of the cliff and the steps that lead there were uneven and steep. And, on top of that, it was not as if the two of them were well rested.

They were exhausted after almost sleepless night. The emotional stress was even worse. Therefore, the physical exhaustion outside in the sun and fresh air without being chased by monsters was all they actually needed. They also needed to clear up their brains. And emotions too, but that second part was hard for an average teenager, imposing that on the two of them after everything they have been through was just cruel.

Marinette wanted to ask him how he was doing (stupid question, there was no way he could possibly say he was doing well, unless he lied, but then again, all things considered, she could say he was doing well in the current circumstances, splendid, excellent even, because the boy did not fall apart).

Adrien wanted to ask her how she was doing (because he was such a person, and she was Marinette, and Ladybug, and he cared for her, so it was his first instinct, but then she would say she was good, because what else would she tell him, and then she would ask him how he was, and that was a question he wanted to avoid).

"How are you, kid?" The little black cat like kwami asked as he hovered in front of the boys face. Adrien looked up surprised, he was not sure when Plagg floated out from his hood. The two pairs of green eyes stared at each other for a while until one pair had to look down because it was wise for the boy to watch where he was going. Plagg, on the other hand, continued floating backwards and observed the boy carefully.

"He is doing great Plagg!" Tikki scolded as she floated over with her tiny arms on her hips. Her blue eyes stared at the black kwami, her tentacles whipped around revealing she was annoyed. The tiny goddess of creation and good luck was determined to keep the spirits up in both teens. While her charge did not freak out, which was a pleasant surprise, but there was still time, it was even more important to express emotional support for the boy.

"Adrien, you are doing great." Tikki turned to the boy. "You did excellent job, you should not doubt yourself. Everything you did was right." The little red goddess of good fortune smiled widely.

Adrien returned a tired smile, but it reached his eyes so Tikki knew she was on a good track.

"You are really doing great Adrien." Marinette breathed out. She had to breathe while she climbed and carried water but she also wanted to encourage him to move forward. There was no going back, she knew that. It was a thought that had chased her since she boarded that airplane. There was no going back to the way things were.

"Everything that happened, that would have broken many of my previous wielders." Plagg admitted with just a touch of melancholy. "You did a great job, kid!" Plagg turned to Tikki and raised his chin a bit as if he was saying 'see I can praise my kid too.' But then he turned back to the boy. "But how are you feeling, right now?" Because the old god of destruction knew all too well the ways the feelings were messed up.

"It is just surreal. I can't believe it is true." Adrien pushed out with heavy breaths. He wandered if this was a good time, perhaps it was if it was the kwami who started it. He was not sure how he felt at all.

Two kwami and one girl looked at him.

"You know, my Father is Hawk Moth, Nathalie is Mayura. I knew that, but then … " Adrien now stopped to be able to talk and looked at Plagg first. They continued to walk up the stairs.

"Well, with retrospect, how they treated you most of the time, I can't say I am much surprised." Plagg replied with a touch of cockiness. Adrien and Tikki raised their eyebrows.

"Okay, I admit, I was blind, I was oblivious." Plagg looked down to the ground. Because he also shared the house, he saw the contents of the safe and he did not make a connection. And Tikki did when she saw the book, and his Sugarcube gave him a look that could kill, even a tiny deity. Sa Plagg looked down and expressed as much remorse as he could at the moment.

"You know Nooroo is the most difficult one from all of us." Tikki tried to soothe her old friend once she got him where she wanted him.

"Thanks Sugarcube, but this is really exceptionally stupid situation." Plagg replied sheepishly. And then there was Dusuu, not the brightest among their kind, but then, he did see the book.

"You know, it happened before, to the both of us." Tikki chirped. And it did not end up well each time. If she was able to feel a chill going up her spine, she felt it then.

"Yeah, besides we are not supposed to give away the identities of the other wielders even when we know, so it was not as if it would have made any difference." Plagg replied flatly. And that sentence was aimed at Tikki too. And she knew it.

"It is not the time to discuss what would have been." Adrien cut in. He really did not want to go there. It was useless, he knew that. And they had little time and a huge task before them.

"Unless you suggest we should time travel to fix something." Marinette added. That was always an option. Except, the previous attempts to mess up with the timeline have always lead to a result she wanted to avoid. So the girl inwardly bit her tongue and waited.

"Nope, you should fix it here and now." Tikki smiled widely. She knew her charge too well. And everything that happened in the last week was definitely not something that Marinette would want to erase.

"Yeah, I really want to kick his ass right now." Adrien grinned. Both kwami looked at him carefully. Marinette flicked her eyes to his face too. But then his face fell. Was he really about to hit his father? He had to. He was Hawk Moth. He had to fight Hawk Moth and forget about who was under the mask.

Sometimes the fact that he knew the identity of their enemy was a blessing and sometimes it was a curse. He understood then why keeping the identities a secret had its benefits. There were substantially less emotions to deal with. It was good because the emotions were the thing what Hawk Moth was able to sense and exploit, and he was particularly interested in the bad ones. So, maybe, he had an opportunity to release those emotions right then and there, before they went to the next battle.

"That was my mum, there in that sarcophagus." Adrien pushed out. Both kwami knew this was the time to keep quiet and let him talk. Marinette just pushed up the steps to stay beside him and hear him and see his face.

"This is just … My mother wielded a miraculous. My father is a villain. Her body was in my house.

I don't want to return there. I don't want to live there any more." Adrien just spilled his thoughts and doubts between the heavy breaths as he climbed up.

Right then it was important to make him want to live anywhere.

"He kept her there and terrorized Paris only because he wanted to bring her back." Adrien sighed. He was sorry for his father, he understood. And it, sort of, made both his father and Hawk Moth more human, at least he loved someone.

"Don't go there, kid." Plagg warned as he saw the unspoken emotions on the face of his chosen. "Do not even consider it."

"He loves her so much." Adrien could relate. He looked at Marinette. They both stopped at that moment and put their containers to the upper step. He understood his father. Because, there, right there, beside him, was a girl he loved so much.

She looked in his warm green eyes and her blue eyes started to water. She waved her head because what she saw in his eyes scared her.

"Adrien, that is not love." Tikki warned.

Marinette looked at him and fought the tears that wanted to flow from her eyes. Because she loved that boy so much. Because she could see how he struggled with the same feelings. She would do anything for him and she feared he would do anything for her. Most of all, she feared what that anything was.

"Kid, that is obsession." Plagg almost groaned as he issued his warning.

Both kids stared at him.

"Would you do for Pigtails what he is doing for Emilie?" Plagg hovered before Adrien staring intently into the boy's face.

Adrien crumbled. Would he? Would he terrorize a city just because he might get Ladybug back? Would he destroy other people and their lives for that? Would he accept a sacrifice? He was not sure that in all honesty his answer would be 'no'.

"Adrien?" Marinette quietly called his name scared of the emotions that unfolded openly on his face. He was not trying to hide them, he stopped hiding how he felt. "Adrien, please say no." she begged.

"Would you say no?" Adrien looked straight into her eyes with so much fire.

"You have to say no, you are chosen, you are a superhero for a reason, because you are able to say no, because you will fight Hawk Moth. Because I need you. Because you can't just terrorize the world to get what you want." Marinette cried while she scolded the boy she loved. She had to do that. She did not want him to turn into a monster one day just because she failed.

"Because there has to be another way to fix this." Tikki, ever the positive one added.

"or just accept it and live with the consequences." Plagg had to add his own thoughts.

Adrien stared at them. He had already accepted the loss of his mother long time ago. He had his sorrow and loss and anger and acceptance.

"I am not my father." he said and picked up the water containers. "I am not my father." he repeated and took a step up.

Marinette took her own water containers and followed.

"That's the spirit kid." Plagg cheered.

Tikki rolled her eyes.

They climbed in silence for a while.

"Do you think the monks can help her, my mum?" Adrien asked after a long silence.

"I don't know, but if they can, they will." Marinette struggled to speak between taking breaths.

"There are things the teacher knows that we kwami do not know." Tikki chirped happily.

"I am sure some Camembert might help." the black kwami muttered.

"Plagg!" two kids and a kwami almost laughed.

"What? It would definitely help _me_." Plagg answered incredulously.

They continued to climb in silence while Adrien was left to his own thoughts. He got used to the life without his mother, although he did miss her. But, what would his life be if his mother returned? How would he look at her once he knew what happened? Would she let him go to school, because he was homeschooled while she was around. Would he have to live with her and father in the Agreste mansion? Cold shivers went down his spine at that thought.

"What is bothering you, Adrien?" Tikki chirped because she saw how many different emotions washed over Adrien's face each passing step.

"I don't know. I am not sure if I want my mum back." Adrien admitted. "Because I do want her back and I want her and father to be happy." But then he was almost disgusted by his own words. "But that means I want Hawk Moth's wish to come true. And that is plain awful." Adrien scolded himself for having such thoughts and wishes.

"And I am scared what would that mean for me. I mean, I never went to school while she was around and my only friend was Chloe!" the boy was feeling desperate. Was he allowed to be so selfish as to wish for his mother to stay away so he could lead the life he wanted?

"Kid, you are allowed to be selfish and not live up to someone else's standards." Plagg warned him as he did so many times so far.

Tikki patted the boy one the cheek.

"Besides, all I felt when I was there was that there is nothing of her left, just an empty shell." Adrien whispered.

"Me too." Marinette confirmed.

Adrien smiled back. They climbed a few more steps before he carried his signature smirk on his face.

"So, what's the plan My Lady?" he turned to Marinette.

"Oh, nothing much. Get them out, transform, fight." Marinette tried to shrug, but it was not possible due to the weight of the water containers.

She wandered if that was indeed the best strategy, but she had no idea how to fight two supervillains while she and Adrien were mere civilians, and hide their identities while they fought, because Gabriel should recognize his own son.

"Why can't we transform inside?" Adrien asked again.

"Oh, you can, but you shouldn't." Plagg replied.

"This is one of the things we kwami do not know." Tikki chirped.

They reached the temple and passed the door that they simply let shut behind them with a clang.

Dorje met them with worried eyes.

"They are waiting for you. They want to fight you." The young man looked at the two kids with teary eyes.


	78. Chapter 78 - Where is She?

Where is she?

"Get her away." Tenzin ordered and Dorje carried Emilie away from the large room in the temple. Few of those present even noticed her there among the commotion. It was the general assumption that the attack was finished and they were to resume a 'normal' life. The room turned into the usual relaxed chaos of students. They chatted about what happened, the government guide tried to organize them and to resume normal daily activities. There was breakfast to prepare and eat, they have not even done their morning washing and all they wanted was to chat about what just happened or post and share photos they made during the attack.

Hawk Moth stormed into the large room with Mayura on his tail. The wave of silence spread through the large room like a flood, interrupted only with a few 'oh no'. He first stood at the wide entrance to the large room, he stiffened his back and towered tall. Mayura was at his side in a flash, her eyes scanned the surroundings.

"Where is she?" Hawk Moth demanded while he looked around frantically. He was searching for a sarcophagus that held his wife. There was no such item on display in the large room. Although it was big, he knew very well what he was looking for and it was not there. Once his eyes set on the old monk he power walked over while Mayura kept checking the surrounding students and held her fan threatening anyone who would dare to get closer.

Students stopped their activities as one. Few of them raised their phones with cameras on. More of them sighed in resignation something like 'Not again'. The government guide was furious. This was clashing with her plans, and she had plans and she had orders and she had deadlines and who were those two oddly dressed characters? I mean, the woman had heels and long skirt? How unpractical was that? How did she get there? She did not walk in those heels from the military base, that was sure. And the man, in his elegant shoes, there were no scrapes, his elegant trousers should have been torn. Sure, the cane can be a very useful tool when one is walking in the mountains. But, a fan that the woman was holding? This was a bad example. She was having none of that. She stared at both villains disapprovingly.

"Where have you taken her?" Hawk Moth insisted as he walked determinedly towards Tenzin. He towered over the old monk who was alone this time. But, the old monk simply looked up, towards the face of the villain and stroked his beard. There might have been even a twitch of a smile on the old man's face. The villain stared down at the old and slim man half his height.

"Her?" the old monk asked and stroked his beard again. Oh, there was mischief in those eyes for sure, and a glint of victory. But Tenzin quickly schooled his face and his body language. He was facing the wielder of the butterfly miraculous, he enjoyed powers that Nooroo gave him, and one of those powers was to sense what others were feeling.

"My wife, where is she?" Hawk Moth demanded. He knew she was there. He saw her in that room. He saw her through many pairs of eyes, from all angles, because he was able to see whatever sentimonsters saw. He kept them there, around her and the sarcophagus, the sentimonsters were supposed to protect her while the old man did his magic. But the sentimonsters, his wife and the sarcophagus were gone and all he was left with was this old man.

Tenzin shrugged back. He really could not say where her body was taken. He gave the order, but the rest was upon the monk who took her. They did not have an action plan for occasions as this one, how often did he get an opportunity to kidnap the lifeless body of the wife of the resident villain (or not so resident in this case).

"Where is the sarcophagus?" Hawk Moth shouted. He was getting tired of this game and he sensed quite clearly that the old monk was playing him. There was no mistake in the first impression he got from the old man face to face. This old monk looked fragile, but he was a force to be reckoned with. Neither Hawk Moth nor Gabriel Agreste underestimated their opponents (except he did).

"You know, when Ladybug releases her miraculous cure, everything goes _back_ as it was." Tenzin radiated wisdom and mischief again but his voice spoke in calm tone and slowly as if he was teaching a group of students (who also needed their dear time to comprehend anything). The old monk waited for the information to settle into the villains brain. He did not need to wait long, in fact it was surprisingly short.

Hawk Moth released a cry of anger into the air above him. It was unnaturally loud and it resonated in the acoustics of the large room. Many students covered their ears. Few of them even looked around for the next item that would shatter due to the sound effect. Mayura watched around carefully. She laid her eyes on Pema. She was a monk and she was there, and the two studied each other intently.

"You said you could help her." Hawk Moth pressed further. He got his hopes up, he was wrong, he was disappointed. Because this old man did not deliver. And his wife was not there, she disappeared. Well at least she was safely back in the mansion, in his lair, in the place he made for her.

"I said I have to examine her first." Tenzin stroked his beard again. He clearly enjoyed this game of cat and mouse (where Hawk Moth thought that the old monk was just the mouse teasing the cat, while the other thought it was the other way around).

"But if you did examine her, if she was here, then you could get her back?" Hawk Moth was almost hopeful, while he was mostly stern and overbearing, there was hope in his voice, there was something that made it sound almost like a plea from a man who did not know how to speak but to give orders.

Pema made a show while she walked around as if she wanted to be seen, she walked around and turned around a few times.

"That woman, that monk over there." Mayura nudged Hawk Moth to look at her.

"She is the one who escaped the monsters, follow her. She knows where the miraculous stones are." Hawk Moth issued his orders and turned back to Tenzin.

Pema made one more twirl before she left the large room as she disappeared behind one of the tapestries. Tenzin followed with his narrowed eyes only for a brief moment before he turned his attention back to the villain before him. He saw that the other villain followed Pema.

"The healing is going to take a long time." Tenzin warned keeping the attention of Hawk Moth on himself. The old monk assumed what Pema was doing. She was meddling. As usual.

Hawk Moth released an impatient huff. He was a patient man, he spent more than a year trying to bring back his wife. But he was not known for patience he had given to anyone he considered his inferior (and that was practically everyone).

"We are talking at least days." the old monk added after a short pause. He was about to make Hawk Moth change his mind. Because he knew rather well that if they go back to that lair, they with find the sarcophagus, but empty.

Hawk Moth glared at the old man. Although the students got up to leave the large room and produced some noise, it seemed as if the air between the two was standing still.

"It could be weeks." Tenzin added one more weight to the scale. He waited for it to tip. He wanted Hawk Moth to reconsider the option. The old monk knew what he sensed so far, and that was an empty shell. Therefore, the solution was not simple, and probably involved the destruction of the sentimonster.

Well, Hawk Moth did spend years fighting he just might accept this. He just might accept that he will spend months in Tibet nursing his wife. But what bothered him was that he was not in control. There was no electricity in the temple to power the device he had to store the body of his wife.

Mayura chased after Pema. The young monk was apparently busy fixing some tapestry in a dark and narrow corridor. Mayura swiftly moved the tapestry away only to find a storage room full of different items. She stormed inside because the villain thought the magical gems were hidden in the storage. But apparently, there was only food.

"What are you going to do once he gets his wife back?" Pema inquired. She was familiar with the feelings she was facing.

"He is my boss, he appreciates what I do for him. Besides, I would do anything for him, anything to make him happy." Mayura cut off the monk.

"But _she_ will have him and wield the peacock miraculous then?" Pema pushed further as if she was driven by mere curiosity.

Mayura did not answer. Theoretically, they would also have the miraculous from Chat Noir and Ladybug, so she hoped to keep the peacock one. Pema noticed her hesitation.

"And will he need you once he gets her back?" the young monk knew she was striking a chord with that one.

"He wants her back for his son. His son needs his mother back." Mayura insisted. "Please help us, because that boy is missing his mother." The villain pleaded. She knew she reached the dead end, she was not about to find the hidden miraculous in that tiny storage room.

Mayura returned without finding anything because she was diverted by Pema. The young monk simply wandered the dark and narrow corridors in circles before she returned to the large room.

"I think they do not have the Ladybug and Chat Noir miraculous here, sir. They would have used them against us already." She was not certain about that, but it was a logical conclusion from everything they saw so far. Ladybug and Chat Noir never entered the temple, they 'teleported' over and operated somewhere around. But she was akumatized during the attacks and she did not remember the details, only what Gabriel told her.

"You are right, if they had the stones here, we would be facing those two pests already." Hawk Moth agreed with Mayura on that one. They would have been wielded by different persons, his logic told him. It was time to stop the search of the temple.

"I would assume the only miraculous stones of Chat Noir and Ladybug are those carried by the current wielders, who are in Paris right now." Mayura continued quietly the conversation as it was not for everyone's ears.

"On one side, we could create the teleportation sentimonster again." Hawk Moth pondered while looking at Mayura. "With your help of course."

Mayura was excited to help him, she needed to be needed. On the other hand, she was facing another attempt of something they tried and failed.

Tenzin listened carefully, that option was not good news for him.

"But the treatment is not secure, this man does not guarantee success." Mayura countered Hawk Moth. She knew one thing, if they healed Emilie that way, they would not have more miraculous stones after they finished, and she wanted to hold onto the peacock one.

"Indeed, but it took us ages to fight Chat Noir and Ladybug and we are close, but we do not know how many attempts it will take us before we finally succeed." he argued.

Tenzin tried to concentrate and listen, he wanted to suggest a solution that would keep the villains at bay, no more attacks for a while, but Hawk Moth and Mayura radiated so much negative energy that he could not find his inner peace of mind that usually lead him to find a solution.

"The treatment the old monk offered, how long it would take?" Mayura inquired.

"He said it could take months." Hawk Moth whispered and did not hide his disappointment.

"Months?" Mayura screamed.

"Yes, months, that is what I said." Hawk Moth glared at her.

"That is a long time." she confirmed and looked away. That was also a long time with Gabriel, in Tibet, and maybe, just maybe she still had her chance to prove how worthy of his love she was.

"It is, but we already spent more time fighting Ladybug and Chat Noir." he argued more.

"We can continue to fight them here." she had a twitch of a smile on her face, that was going to keep them together like this, he would be focused on the fights and on her and not on the body of his wife. Because, they have not seen her in more than a week and he used to spend hours by the sarcophagus. And bringing his wife to the temple probably meant he was to spend his days staring at the sarcophagus again.

"That is indeed true." Hawk Moth confirmed with one firm nod, he observed the large room again. This place was a mess, a chaos filled with sleeping bags and backpacks, with students dressed in anything that provided comfort and thermal insulation. He did not want to spend his days in the temple hoping beyond hope that his wife will be revived by some endless magical ceremony that he had no clue of and had no control.

The old monk decided it was time to intervene. He was not sure how much time would Adrien and Marinette need to return, but they could be back soon. And the old monk estimated that the two kids had better chances if they fought outside and transformed into superheroes.

Tenzin made a show of getting attention from one of the students who took the photos of the monk with the two villains.

"They are already posting pictures of us in the temple on the social media, sir." Mayura warned.

"That means those two pests will soon know we are here." he spat the words.

"They should be back at any moment." Mayura whispered.

"We should get ready for them." he raised his chin.

"Sir, perhaps we should look for the superheroes outside." she proposed.

"Why outside?" he inquired. The place was a mess already. He had hostages to take here.

"You do not want to face them here, don't you?" She motioned with her arms to encircle the whole space around her.

"We have civilians, you know, hostages here." Hawk Moth glared at Mayura and motioned with his hands all around the room.

"Sir, please." she whispered. "We can get help too."

Hawk Moth finally understood. He had a few butterflies left in the container. But she could create monsters even there. Finally he decided it was time to leave.

"Come on, bring those phones, aim them at me." Hawk Moth demanded attention from the present students.

Mayura sighed with relief.

Tenzin started to think this was not the best idea.

"Tell those two pests that we are waiting for them, outside." Hawk Moth announced to the students who were filming the two villains. And with those words, Hawk Moth and Mayura power walked out from the large room.


	79. Chapter 79 - The Wasp's Nest

The Wasp's Nest

Adrien and Marinette were climbing the steps and talking while Hawk Moth and Mayura stormed out from the temple, slammed the heavy wooden door shut and jumped down the cliff until they reached their container. They did not even notice the two teens who struggled to carry water and the weight of their own responsibilities.

Mayura felt the signs of fatigue. She was exhausted. But she never showed them, she never shoved any signs of weakness in front of Gabriel if she could help herself. Even when she was coughing and felt dizzy on a daily basis because she used the broken miraculous, she always showed only her determination to persist in reaching their goal. But she never wandered what was her future once they reached that goal. And this time, a seed of doubt was planted. She wandered what was to happen with her once Gabriel got his wish.

She wanted to do that for Adrien, that boy was so dear to her, and he missed his mother so much. The boy was not happy because his father was so busy and expressed his resentment from time to time. But his father was busy saving his mother, and the boy just did not know that. He should have understood his father, he should have loved him for it and supported him. But, the boy did not have a clue what was going on, sheltered and consumed in his extracurricular activities. She was sure the boy would appreciate their efforts once they accomplished their goal.

She felt the need to detransform and rest, but the magical suit at least helped her ignore the sleepiness and the pain. She was getting ready for another fight. From the looks of it, she was about to be akumatized again. That meant no control, no memories, but also no pressure and no pain. But she wanted to be there for Gabriel and if he wanted to akumatize her again, then she was ready to comply.

Hawk Moth took one butterfly from the plastic vessel in which they kept the few specimens they caught. If he was tired, he ignored it. If he was hungry or thirsty, he ignored it. He was the general and he was the solder in this war that he started. And he was determined to end it by defeating his enemy.

"I am about to win. We are about to win." he grinned towards his companion, but she only looked at him and returned a hint of a smile lost in her thoughts. "Because I have a plan that shall not fail." He glared and his mouth spread in his trademark wicked grin. "Because you will create an army of sentimonsters shaped after our strongest and most valued ally." he grinned again.

Mayura stared back at him. He loved the drama and the suspense and she loved him for it, because it made him interesting. He was a showman, but few admired and appreciated his skills the way she did.

"Are you ready, Mayura?" Hawk Moth asked with caution. He could sense her fatigue and self doubt. He was well versed in reading the feelings of other people.

She stood straight in front of him and put as much determination as she could muster.

"I am ready sir." she confirmed. "But, could I have the control of my own mind this time? Two minds work better than one." she looked at him determinedly. Hawk Moth was puzzled by the request at first. "You can still control the monsters." she offered and Hawk Moth grinned.

"Excellent idea." Hawk Moth evilized the butterfly and let it go, he directed it towards her fan.

"They will not look for it in the place where it was the last time." Hawk Moth smiled wickedly.

Mayura smirked back.

"I have a better place for it." she moved her fan away and let the butterfly enter her brooch. "It is supposed to be indestructible." She returned a sly smile as a violet mask appeared on her face.

"But, it was damaged." Hawk Moth protested. He contemplated pulling the butterfly from the brooch for a moment, it was not safe, he pondered, but then again, it was probably the most protected place. He definitely wanted to avoid what happened the last few times when the two superheroes destroyed the akumatized object rather quickly.

"Scarlet Peacock." He spoke finally and the violet energy washed over her. "I give you the power to create Queen Wasp and her clones. They will paralyse anyone that stands in our way." He abandoned control, they had problems controlling their monsters and he was not about to repeat the errors they made before. Keeping everyone paralysed will be sufficient. He would have to look for the magical stones himself, he was getting ready to get his own hands dirty, but with everyone incapacitated, he expected that to be a simple task.

Scarlet Peacock emerged from the violet cloud.

"Very well, we are going to create our own little army now." he grinned and they walked out from the container while Scarlet Peacock followed.

Unknown to them (or they simply ignored the possibility) one military commander and his secretary were readily filming whatever they could from the safety of the commanding office.

They quickly scaled the cliff. Hawk Moth produced stones and Scarlet Peacock produced scarlet feathers that got absorbed into the rocks. She moulded the sentimonsters simultaneously. They were all identical, alike Chloe's version of the Queen Wasp.

"My dear Wasps." Hawk Moth cooed. "I give you power to paralyse your enemies with your sting as well as with your own little wasps that you can create on your own."

The two villains were surrounded by more than twenty sentimonsters shaped like the Queen Wasp.

"Good now go and hide." he directed the sentimonsters while him and Mayura caught one each.

"You two are staying with us." they both directed in unison as they climbed one particular rock that was sticking up vertically from the slope of the cliff. There was a long vertical fall from the downslope side of the cliff while it was not easy to reach from the up slope side. One had to expose themselves if they wanted to reach it and there was no possibility to sneak up. On the other hand, the cliff offered great view of much of the cliff face and all the possible hiding places.

"They are waiting for you outside. They want to fight you." Dorje looked at the two kids when he met the m at the entrance to the temple. Then he took the water from them and put it aside where other students were to pick it up and distribute it. The two teens were out of breath, tired, hungry and thirsty. He took them to the room where they ate their meals.

"Here, eat and drink." he offered them fresh bowls of rice and Tibetan tea. Then he reached into a cloth bag, took out and unwrapped two parcels for their kwami and gave two more parcels to the kids to store for later.

Pema joined them swiftly, although she showed signs that she still endured some physical pain after what she did in the previous fight, a sigh or a grimace but nothing much.

"You can expect anything." Pema warned. It was the idea of the old monk to move the battle outside. She was not sure she agreed. Ladybug was usually the one who made such decisions and built a strategy. But Marinette moved all the battles outside so did Tenzin with this one.

"They will not be alone." Adrien spoke between two mouthfuls of food. He was hungry, he was not aware how hungry he was. His stomach was grateful for finally filling it. He was finished with his food so quickly that Plagg stared at the boy while he licked the remaining crumbs of cheese from around his mouth.

"They will create more monsters." Marinette added while she packed food in her mouth. She was considerably slower than Adrien while she ate. Then she outstretched her arm and showed her bowl to Adrien.

"Want more?" she asked. She did not want to get sick from eating too much and too quickly.

Tikki munched on her simple sugar cookie and exchanged a look with Plagg. The black cat like god of destruction quickly returned to staring at his chosen.

"What?" Adrien finally acknowledged his kwami.

"And you call _me_ a glutton." Plagg muttered.

"Well _you_ are." Adrien returned and put more food into himself. He smirked and winked back. He was too busy with his food to word any reply.

Plagg rolled his eyes. Tikki snickered.

"Come on, I am hungry." Adrien whined as he put the last remains of the food in his mouth and washed it down with what was left from the tea.

"And I am not?" Plagg muttered more to himself.

They were finished quickly and got onto their feet.

"We better go." Adrien grinned at Plagg, "Any I hope you are ready." he was back in the fight mode.

Marinette took Tikki and her cookie and put them both in her hood. "I am ready." she smiled encouragingly. But inside, she was much less self assured.

"How much do they know?" she asked Pema as they walked down the hallway towards the narrow exit in the back.

"Nothing new." Pema assured.

"Can I use other miraculous from the box?" Marinette stopped and looked at Pema.

"We." Pema looked around and then continued to whisper. "We can't go there right now."

Marinette nodded. They have not seen Dolma for a long time, it was certainly possible that the old monk was hidden with the box somewhere outside the temple.

They sneaked out from the temple and watched their surroundings carefully. They certainly did not want to be seen going into the cave. The two monks followed the two teens the whole way.

"I'd prefer if we had Longg and Sass for this." Marinette muttered. Adrien quickly agreed. Pema and Dorje looked at each other and waved their heads. Their elders considered that hiding the miraculous box was more important than having them available for the fight.

"You have won the fights before without the aid of the additional miraculous." Pema shrugged.

Marinette smiled warily, they were so efficient so far that the current Guardian decided she could hide herself and the box somewhere. She frowned and sighed. She was not happy for that. But she always made do with the given circumstances.

Adrien was worried when he saw Marinette became serious and quiet.

"I guess I will have to snake up to them." he winked. Marinette rolled her eyes. Yes, that was a way to go into a battle.

They hid in the small cave.

"Perhaps we should not go." he offered when he noticed the expression on her face. She thought they were making an error.

"Yes going out there to fight them is not a good idea." Marinette whispered back.

"It could be a trap." he warned quietly.

"It is a trap." she was certain of that.

"If you thing going after them is wrong, then you should not do that." Pema listened to their conversation so she offered her advice.

"That is right." Adrien replied.

"Let's go back to the temple and make them wait." Marinette smiled.

"Perhaps we could do some scouting to see what they prepared?" Adrien winked.

"But no transformation and no fight?" Marinette looked at him surprised.

"Yeah, just to make sure they are not hurting anyone else." the boy was worried.

"His akuma and her sentimonsters usually terrorize civilians." Marinette added with growing concern.

All four peeked out from the cave and when they saw nobody was there they slowly walked out and decided to do some scouting around.

But after one single minute they saw small wasps flying their way.

"Oh no." Marinette looked at them her eyes wide.

"No way." Adrien groaned.

"Run." the girl shouted her warning as she jumped back and hopped from one rock to another to their hiding place.

"Hide." Adrien ordered as he followed. Pema and Dorje were on their way.

Marinette jumped into the cave. "Tikki spots on!" she transformed into Ladybug. At the same time, Adrien jumped inside and shouted "Plagg claws out." Ladybug watched in horror as Pema and Dorje protected them by closing the entrance with their own clothes, but the wasps found small exposed parts of their bodies on their hands that held the cloth and they stung. The two monks remained standing in the same position frozen, petrified, motionless.

"No" Ladybug cried.

"Dorje. Pema." Chat Noir cried as he touched their motionless bodies carefully with his clawed hands. They kept the wasps outside even while they were petrified.

"No." she repeated while she waved her head. "this is a mistake."

"It is not. We have to fight them." Chat Noir repeated ans he laid his arms on her shoulders. "We have no choice. We are going out there and we are going to fight them and we are going to win My Lady."


	80. Chapter 80 - The Cliffhanger

The Cliffhanger

Dorje and Pema became petrified because they got stung by the small wasps as they spread the thin scarves they carried as part of their robes on the narrow entrance to the cave and prevented bees from entering the cave.

"We have to fight them." Chat noir repeated to Ladybug as she almost crumbled to the sight of what happened to the two monks. She knew they had to fight them. She just had a bad feeling about this whole situation even before they left the temple. Hawk Moth and Mayura challenged them and they went after them. Everything was telling her that they were going into a trap.

"If we go after them, we will fall into their trap." Ladybug muttered, it was a fact, it was nothing new, but somehow, she felt different about this time. This time, there was this nagging feeling in the back of her mind telling her there was something different, there was something not accounted for, but this was not the first time she went into a fight that she was not ready for.

"But they created akumas and sentimonsters all the time and we go after them." Chat Noir smirked. The truth was they followed the same strategy all this time. Hawk Moth and Mayura were creating monsters, Marinette and Adrien would transform into Ladybug and Chat Noir, go after the monster of the day and fight them. There was nothing particularly different this time.

"Yes, I guess we do." Ladybug agreed and squared her shoulders. This was no time for pity, sadness or regret. At that moment they had but one choice. They were going to fight. Or give up, but that was never an option.

"How do we defend ourselves from the wasps?" Chat Noir asked. They always escaped under water. But there was no Seine. And there was no Dragon miraculous.

"We can take their scarves and wrap our heads. The suits should take care of the rest." Ladybug replied. There was not much choice on what to use anyway and the solution was obvious.

They crawled out between the legs of the petrified monks, yanked the scarves that were stuck in the hands and wrapped themselves in a hurry.

The scarves were sufficiently transparent that they could cover their eyes. Chat Noir did not need to claw small holes for them to peek through the cloth and Ladybug decided that it was safer for them to continue that way.

Ladybug fixed the scarves on both of them so they would hold and they ran over the rocks to find the villains and whatever monster(s) they created this time.

"I bet it is the Queen Wasp again." Chat Noir smirked under his cloth.

"Yeah, I agree." Ladybug replied. It was not difficult to guess now when they were already attacked by a swarm of tiny wasps.

They jumped the rocks and sneaked around a corner and then they saw them.

There, on a top of a rock sticking out vertically from the steep cliff face were Scarlet Peacock and Hawk Moth joined by not one, but two Queen Wasps.

"There are two of them." Chat Noir whispered.

"And she is Scarlet Peacock again. I wander where the akuma is this time." Ladybug studied the scarlet villain carefully. "There is nothing new on her."

"Should we visit the container again, my Lady?" Chat wiggled his clawed fingers on his right hand.

"No, I am sure they have learned their lesson." Ladybug did not want to waste time and another cataclysm, she was sure Hawk Moth was not stupid.

Another swarm of wasps flew in their direction and they covered their faces with their hands instinctively. They jumped away from the swarm careful not to be spotted by the two villains.

They both got slightly closer to the villains and observed them carefully. They were so focused on Hawk Moth and Scarlet Peacock that they missed one Wasp sentimonster who was hiding in a small opening between two rocks on the cliff face.

"They have arrived." Hawk Moth turned his back to the cliff and announced the fact to his fellow in crime.

Scarlet Peacock returned her wide smile. "Your plan is working sir." she spoke quietly with her head faced away from the cliff too.

Ladybug and Chat Noir were watching the two supervillains carefully as they tried to determine if there was any object that they could identify as infected by an akuma.

"They noticed us." Chat Noir whispered as he pulled Ladybug down to hide behind a rock. "I heard them talking." he added once they were hidden.

"She has nothing visible on her, so it must be either her miraculous or her brooch." Ladybug whispered.

"And we need this for both." Chat Noir wiggled his clawed fingers again.

"It is easier to go for a fan, you can cataclysm it and if it does not hold an akuma then we go for her miraculous." Ladybug continued as she went up to peek over the rock again.

"If I am going for her miraculous I am taking it off, not just to cataclysm it." Chat Noir whispered with a touch of anger.

"Of course." Ladybug smiled.

Chat Noir was already on his feet and ready to jump when Ladybug pulled him back by his tail.

"Wait." she whispered. She had a serious, puzzled and worried look on her face. She needed to do this, she needed help.

Chat looked at her surprised. Why did she pull him back?

"Lucky Charm!" she tossed her yoyo into the air.

"So soon my lady." Chat Noir raised his eyebrows.

"It helped before." she answered as she looked at the lucky charm she got. It was a charm bracelet made of identical red beads with black spots.

"That is a lucky charm, indeed." Chat Noir grinned.

"Is Tikki making fun of me?" Ladybug wandered. She looked around, but nothing revealed to her, she had no clues, she raised her eyes over the rock and looked at the villains and there were no clues.

"We are loosing your purr-ecious time My Lady." Chat Noir warned.

"I don't have a clue what to do with this." Ladybug waved the lucky charm in front of him.

"Well what do you usually do with charm bracelets?" Chat smirked.

"Right" Ladybug replied and tied it around Chat's arm.

Ladybug's earrings beeped their first warning.

They both jumped out and threw themselves into the battle. The tiny wasps swarm over them, they evaded them as they waved their hands frantically, and all that with them moving swiftly and the protection they used kept the tiny wasps from stinging them.

Ladybug threw her yoyo at Scarlet Peacock but it was deflected with her fan. Chat Noir jumped towards Hawk Moth with his staff extended from the cliff above them, but Hawk Moth hit back with his stick and Chat had to vault back up the cliff face.

Ladybug's earrings beeped again.

Both heroes were approaching closer from the opposite sides. It was hard to concentrate and fight while a swarm of tiny wasps followed each of them.

"Attack" Hawk Moth ordered to the Wasp sentimonsters.

"Look out." Chat shouted his warning towards Ladybug as he noticed the Wasp sentimonsters that crawled out from their hiding places all around her.

"Look out!" Ladybug screamed back as she noticed several sentimonster Wasps who threw themselves at Chat from the cliff with their stings in their hands.

"Venom" few of them shouted in unison.

Ladybug jumped as high as she could and threw her yoyo. She needed a leverage to jump away. So she threw her yoyo directly at the villains and the rock they stood on.

Chat Noir swept several sentimonster wasps that were falling onto him with one swift, strong and precise move of his baton. Then he turned around and jumped towards the two villains.

Mayura jumped away from the Ladybug's path and threw her fan at her. Ladybug evaded the fan, but when she was about to land on top of the rock, one Wasp shouted "venom" and pointed her sting towards her face. Ladybug evaded the sting, but she had to let herself fall down from the cliff. Her earrings beeped again while she was falling.

Hawk Moth deflected the baton and it hit the rock nearby shattering pieces of stone from it. Chat Noir landed on the top of that rock and retracted his baton to use it as a sword. They exchanged a few moves. But Chat had to evade a swirl of tiny wasps as well as another Wasp sentimonster and her sting so he was retreating. Hawk Moth jumped after him. Chat Noir reached out with his arm and tried to rip the pin off from Hawk Moth's chest. But a shout of "Venom" behind his back made him change his course. Hawk Moth hit him with his stick and Chat Noir flew into the face of the cliff. The Wasp sentimonster missed Hawk Moth with her sting only by a few centimetres, but it was a miss. Hawk Moth used all his willpower to control the Wasp and to move away in time.

At least that enabled Chat Noir to avoid more hits and get a safe landing as he turned in the air. He managed to turn and put his staff in between himself and the rock. The rock he hit detached from the face of the cliff and rolled down. But when he looked down, he froze.

"Ladybug, look out." he warned her because the huge rock was rolling in her direction. She jumped away and shouted.

"Chat, the fan." she shouted back a warning of her own.

"Cataclysm" he spoke before he raised his eyes and hand towards the impending object. He was waiting for that moment, he wanted that chance and there it was. He caught the fan in his hand that glowed with the dark energy. The fan disintegrated. But there was no butterfly.

Chat Noir groaned in frustration because he had to go away and detransform, feed Plagg, transform and get back to be able to deal with the next item on their list. And there was no other way because the next object on their 'possibly infected' list was the miraculous.

But Ladybug was on a timer as the next beep of her miraculous, that echoed along the slope of the cliff, reminded him. Therefore, he is going for the miraculous, but to rip it off.

He evaded the next attack from the Wasp sentimonsters. They were more and more agile as about five or six of them encircled Chat with their stings pointed in his direction. His miraculous beeped only to remind him of his position.

Chat extended his baton and vaulted away from the cliff. But then he was high up in the air with Wasp sentimonsters occupying any leverage he could find. He jumped up and swung his baton fiercely to clear the Wasps from his path. They evaded his blows as he hit solid rock and pieces of stone flew all around in all directions.

Ladybug focused on the two villains as she threw her yoyo in the air and flew directly towards them. If she snatched the brooch of Scarlet Peacock, they could run away and hide with the brooch, do all the transformations, cataclysm the brooch and clean the butterfly.

But Hawk Moth deterred her yoyo and it hit the rock, pieces of the rock were falling in her direction and she put her hands before her face, pushing the rocks away. The cloth over her eyes combined with a swirly of tiny wasps did blur her vision as she aimed her yoyo again, she did not see several wasps jump after her.

Ladybug pulled herself out at the last moment as two wasps managed to venom, sting and paralyse each other, but three more wasps followed Ladybug up the cliff face.

The heroine landed on the cliff next to Hawk Moth and Scarlet Peacock. Her hand almost brushed the chest of the akumatized villain while she was landing, but Scarlet Peacock quickly leaned back and evaded it by mere centimetres. Ladybug's feet barely touched the rock as she bounced off the surface and towards Scarlet Peacock.

Several Wasp sentimonsters wrapped the chords tied to their stings around Ladybug's body at the same time.

Her earrings started to beep frantically.

"No" Chat Noir screamed as he heard the beeps.

"Venom" one Wasp shouted, who still had her sting attached to her hand. She stung Ladybug in the shoulder while her earrings were still beeping.

"No" Chat screamed again while he directed his fall towards the rock where Ladybug was curled up, laid on her chest, face down, motionless.

Her transformation wore off revealing a person dressed in the red fleece from neck to toe and a scarf around her head.

"Finally" Hawk Moth snarled. He pushed past Scarlet Peacock and crouched over her body.

"No" Chat screamed as he was falling, he hit the Wasps, he hit the rocks that fallen off and rolled down the cliff face to hit more Wasps. But it was too late.

Hawk Moth ripped the scarf from Marinette's head and reached for her earrings.

Chat Noir landed on top of him and ripped him off. The two of them rolled away wrestling each other.

Scarlet Peacock threw herself on the motionless body of the girl who wielded the Ladybug miraculous. She quickly snatched the earrings off and put them away. But she never took the time to roll the body and see who it was.

Chat attacked with all his might and anger. Hawk Moth hit back with strength and precision. Chat Noir managed a few blows to Hawk Moth, but the villain did strike a few hits too. The hero noticed it was Scarlet Peacock who took the earrings and where she put them. He tried to jump away from Hawk Moth, tackle her and get the earrings back, but the villain prevented him. Chat Noir's ring beeped regularly as it issued its warnings, but Chat did not care. They also hit the face of the cliff breaking off one large rock after another and they rolled down the face of the cliff. Wasp sentimonsters climbed up the face of the cliff swiftly, but the large rolling stones slowed them down, few of them even took a blow and had to start climbing from the bottom of the cliff. But after a few minutes the wasps were close to Scarlet Peacock.

Chat Noir finally broke away from Hawk Moth, he broke his staff in two and threw it at the villain. Hawk Moth had to deflect them using his cane. Chat was falling straight onto Scarlet Peacock. Hawk Moth jumped after him.

Chat landed straight onto Scarlet peacock. She grabbed his right arm and went for his ring. But he went for the earrings stored in the pocked of her dress with his left hand. He managed to take them out and held them tightly while he formed a fist with his right hand and that prevented Scarlet Peacock from taking off his ring easily. He jumped away, ready to snatch Marinette and vault away.

But then one chord wrapped around his right arm. Another chord wrapped around his left arm. Two more chords wrapped around his legs and several were wrapped around his body. And then he felt even more chords wrap around his limbs.

Finally, Hawk Moth landed on his back and smashed the hero into the rock below. He was held like that, with his limbs outstretched by the chords held by more than ten Wasp sentimonsters.

His ring finished its frantic beep. Plagg could not hold it any longer. The green light of de-transformation washed over his body while Hawk Moth stood on on the boy's back back. The villain quickly knelt over his upper back. Scarlet Peacock was there and she pushed herself forward, her hands went after both miraculous . But Hawk Moth pushed himself forward, he snatched both miraculous earrings from Chat's hand while Scarlet Peacock took the ring.


	81. Chapter 81 - Carried Away

Carried Away

Hawk Moth snatched both miraculous earrings from Adrien's hands before Scarlet Peacock could reach them, but she got the ring. The Wasp sentimonsters were getting ready to inject their venom into the boy.

Adrien did not care if that happened, he was tied up, all his limbs and his body held by the Wasp sentimonsters. He managed to turn his face and his eyes towards Marinette. He could only see her soft red fleece onesie. The same onesie he bought in Lhasa. Her body was slightly curled up, as if she was sleeping. For a moment he wanted to curl up beside her and comfort her, to tell her that everything will be okay and struggle to believe his own words.

"No" Hawk Moth ordered to the wasps. The Wasps stopped their movement and looked at their master. Scarlet Peacock turned to Hawk Moth questioningly.

"We will not immobilize him?" Scarlet Peacock inquired. It was the logical thing to do. Or perhaps it was not. They won. They got the miraculous. She clutched on the ring in her hand. Why she did not feel victorious? Why she felt so strange?

"No. Take him, he will watch our victory." Hawk Moth ordered. He needed to gloat before his enemies. He even glanced towards the body of the motionless girl just few metres away. He felt sorry, not for her but for missing his chance to gloat over his victory before his arch nemesis.

"Should we take her too, sir?" Scarlet Peacock motioned towards the motionless body of the Ladybug miracoulous wielder. She looked at the girl's body. She wanted to turn her around and look at the girl's face. And at that moment it struck her. That was a girl. They fought a girl. She ripped the earrings from a girl's body. Mayura did not want to look at that face.

"There is no use." Hawk Moth snarled and dismissed her with his hand. "She is incapacitated. But we will take him." Besides, he had an army of Wasps, he might as well use them to carry the boy.

The Wasps tied up his body and took the boy up. He was tied in an uncomfortable position and carried by several Wasps. Fortunately, the tiny wasps were called off because they did not try to attack him any more.

"Should we look at his face?" Scarlet Peacock asked. She was curious at the identity of the wielders of the Ladybug and Chat Noir miraculous. She wanted to know. But Hawk Moth was the boss, he was making the calls.

"That is irrelevant. We can save that for later. If you want." he looked at the body of the boy all tied up, his face still covered with the scarf. He knew he did not win just yet. He needed to bring his wife back.

Adrien looked at Marinette and her body. Tears started rolling down his face. 'I have failed you' he thought as he was carried away. Although he was not hit by the sting, he felt just as immobilized. He did not say anything. He just looked at the body of the girl he loved and made a silent promise that he was about to fix this.

"Where are we going?" Scarlet Peacock demanded. She fidgeted with the ring and contemplated putting it one her finger, but Hawk Moth glared at the ring and then at her so she put it into her pocket.

"You will see." Hawk Moth replied quietly with a strange note in his voice that his fellow villain did not like at all. She put the ring into her pocket. She did not give it to him. It bothered him. It wormed itself through his gut and from the back of his brain.

The thoughts bothered the boy as he was carried by the Wasps up the cliff. They were not gentle, his body hit the stones and he was not protected by his magical armour any more. But he could not feel the pain and could not care less.

'_Is she still alive? How can I save her?'_ Questions went thorough his head. Then he felt the charm bracelet around his wrist, the one Ladybug got when she called her lucky charm. It did not disappear when Ladybugs earrings were taken off. He still had it. It comforted him, it gave him strength. Why have not she kept it herself? Why did she tie it around his wrist and not hers? Perhaps it would help her, somehow.

'_But of course._' The thought washed over him like a tide, he knew what he had to do. He had to take the earrings from Hawk Moth and use them. Then he could use the lucky charm to bring Marinette back, to wake her up. Together, they would go for the ring.

"Why are we going towards the temple?" Scarlet Peacock asked while they were climbing. She did not want to go there. They had the miraculous they wanted, why would they go there? It was time to pack up and go back to Paris to make his wish. That would give her a few days with Gabriel before they returned.

"You'll see." Hawk Moth brushed her off. He did not want to answer her. If it was not clear to her what were his intentions, then he was not about to share.

Adrien listened to the argument. The Wasp sentimonsters kept very close. The boy could not miss the intense sense of disagreement between the two villains. They were going to the temple. Perhaps he could get some help there. At least he hoped he would get untied. Then, he would attack Hawk Moth, with or without a miraculous, with or without the protections of the magical suit or the strength of the magical weapons and powers.

Hawk Moth watched Scarlet Peacock carefully. She did try to snatch the Ladybug miraculous before his nose. She kept the Chat Noir's ring. Maybe it was the heat of the battle, but he was there, right on top of the boy, it was his victory, it was his prize to take. But she was faster with the ring and she kept it. It was bothering him.

Then he remembered how Scarlet Peacock snatched the earrings from the girl and put them away. She did not tell him anything. She neither gave nor offered him the earrings. Was she trying to keep the two most powerful miracoulous for herself? He had the earrings now because the boy snatched the earrings from Scarlet Peacock.

"Congratulations, sir!" she finally acknowledged their victory, but her voice was calm and polite, she was as professional as always. Hawk Moth clearly felt she was not truly happy about it. "We have their miraculous, but why are we going to the temple? I thought we have all you wanted to have."

Hawk Moth contemplated her words and the way she asked her questions. And he could sense her distress and anxiety. Something was bothering her. She must have wanted both miracoulous for herself.

"And we are about to use it." Hawk Moth finally answered after a short break.

Scarlet Peacock could sense other peoples negative emotions too and he forgot about that. She could feel the despair in the boy dragged by the Wasps. But she could also feel Hawk Moth's doubts and remaining concerns. She also felt his sense of triumph and victory. She was proud of him, but she was also sad. It was finished. He will get his wife back and she was not sure what would be left for Nathalie.

He gloated, he triumphed, he was victorious, he had finally beaten Ladybug and Chat Noir. Her body was left there on that rock. And he took the boy with him because he wanted to watch his enemy defeated. He wanted his enemy to watch him as he transformed using both miracoulous and as was about to make his wish.

His wish.

His wish required the body of his wife.

They needed that teleportation sentimonster again.

He needed his akuma back.

Just before the main entrance to the temple he changed his mind.

"Give me the ring." Hawk Moth demanded.

Scarlet Peacock eyed Hawk Moth warily. He had his prize. He stored both the Ladybug and the Chat Noir miracoulous in his pocket. And now he was cold and distant to her. There was no celebration. There was no joy. He even looked at her with distrust. He was growing more distant each passing second.

They were already at the temple door. She turned around to face him. Hawk Moth stared at her. And then he concentrated. She was akumatized after all. A violet mask glowed on her head. She put her hand in her pocket and took the ring, she handed the ring over to Hawk Moth.

"Good." he praised coldly. Scarlet Peacock just stared at him, her eyes were empty of any emotion. She stood there like a puppet she was, he was the boss, he was pulling the strings, the invisible strings of the mental and telepathic remote control.

"We will need the services of the teleportation sentimonster." Hawk Moth stated matter of factly as if he was telling Nathalie to shift an item in his schedule (but sometimes creating a sentimonster took less time and effort than rescheduling one of his meetings).

"Use your weapon on him." Hawk Moth ordered the Wasp sentimonsters.

"Venom" one of them shouted and stung Adrien in the shoulder. Adrien collapsed to the ground.

Hawk Moth raised his hand towards Scarlet Peacock in the temple corridor.

"I will need your services but for a different purpose. And I will need a different akuma for that." he said as a violet butterfly fluttered out from her brooch. Then the violet butterfly turned into white and fluttered away through the dark hallway.

The Wasp sentimonsters disappeared, the strings they wrapped around Adrien dissolved, the venom they injected into their victims stopped working.

Adrien woke up after a few seconds and from his position where he was laying on the ground he just saw the two villains disappear behind the door.

He jumped to his feet and ran after them.

Hawk Moth went after the butterfly, but this was a wild butterfly and it landed safely on a narrow ledge just above the door. Hawk Moth jumped to catch the butterfly and it fluttered higher.

Adrien ran after the two villains. He wanted to throw himself onto Hawk Moth and grab the earrings. His whole body ached. His lungs were burning. He unwrapped the scarf from his head as he jumped inside the temple and ran after the villain. But Hawk Moth was busy catching the white butterfly that fluttered high, just under the ceiling of the wide hallway.

Adrien stood to the side and watched Hawk Moth.

Mayura was there, standing in the middle of the hallway, dazed and confused and stared at Hawk Moth too. She felt the pocket on her magical suit. There was nothing inside. She did not remember when she gave the ring and to whom. But, she had an idea. And it stung her inside.

Nobody noticed Adrien entered the hallway. Well, almost nobody. Because Tenzin watched the boy intently. Adrien never put his eyes away from Hawk Moth and his pocket wandering if this was his chance. While Hawk Moth was distracted by the disobedient butterfly.

Then the boy noticed Tenzin watched him. Adrien simply raised his right hand and turned to show how there was no ring. Adrien switched his eyes back to Hawk Moth's pocket. Tenzin understood.

The old monk turned his eyes towards the butterfly and concentrated. The old teacher trained previous holders of the butterfly miraculous, he had a few tricks up his sleeve that did not require ans miraculous gems.

Hawk Moth was now jumping around chasing the butterfly but the insect managed to escape his grip. He cursed the wild white butterflies, the customs and the animal import regulations and the quarantine.

"Mayura, go and get it." Hawk Moth ordered.

Mayura turned her eyes towards the butterfly and then back to Hawk Moth. She was not akumatized any more. She was less driven to help him. He was about to akumatize again, teleport the body of his wife and then make his wish. And then it would be all over. He will not need her, Nathalie any more.

Hawk Moth concentrated and kept his hands open, but he could not feel the butterfly. It fluttered around through the dark corridor with no respect towards its master. Actually, the only thing the animal was interested was to follow the light and find a way out from that dark place.

Tenzin watched the butterfly flutter freely through the corridor with satisfaction. Casual observer might interpret it as if the old monk was happy to see the beautiful wild creature. But those who knew a secret or two, knew better. Adrien smirked and waited for his chance. Because it was obvious Hawk Moth ignored them both.


	82. Chapter 82 - The Lucky Charm

The Lucky Charm

Adrien stood by the wall in the wide entrance hallway of the temple and watched Hawk Moth getting angry at the disobedient butterfly (because it is wild and not grown in his basement it is disobedient). Mayura stood just in front of the boy, with her back turned to him. He saw his chance when Hawk Moth walked over closer to him. The villain was concentrated on the butterfly. The boy threw himself straight onto the pocket, he felt the earrings and the rings as his hand passed over the suit. He managed to push one of his fingers inside but Hawk Moth pushed him away.

"What." the villain snarled. "How dare you?" There was this civilian kind going over hiw magical suit with his filthy hands. What was he thinking? He smashed the boy away with ease given to him by his enhanced physical power.

Adrien got on his feet and stood tall. He did not dare to move his eyes towards the pocket.

Hawk Moth stared at the boy, the villain was surprised and angry at first because someone dared to stand in his way, not only that, to throw themselves at him, then he was puzzled because who would do that and why, then there was a shadow of recognition passing over the villain's face.

"How dare you?" Hawk Moth snarled as he repeated the question. "You disobedient brat!" The villain shouted the insult. Because, there, right in front of him, was that boy in the black onesie, with sunburned face and a black cap. The boy stared at him with wild green eyes. He remembered that he saw the boy in their previous attacks either through the eyes of the akuma, the sentimonsters or even his own. The boy was one of those more annoying students who did not stand aside and comply with his schemes even when coerced by his magic. He was truly annoying creature.

Adrien squared his shoulders and collected his courage. The whole time, the reality that Hawk Moth was his father did not strike him so much as then. Because the boy never saw him transform. The first time he faced the reality was when the villain called the body of Adrien's mother 'his wife'. He was glad Gabriel Agreste was now transformed into Hawk Moth. It was perhaps easier to face the face of the magical supervillain than the face of his own father. Because the years of suffering the upbringing the Gabriel Agreste way made its mark. So the boy preferred the villain side. The boy assumed his father recognized him.

"The miraculous does not belong to you." Adrien spoke as calm as he could. His voice wavered a little, but it was strong and commanding. He knew how to assume that posture, most of the time he spent around his father, the boy had an example how to do that.

Mayura hitched a breath and Hawk Moth turned towards her to see what was going on. Mayura stared at the boy with so many emotions washed over her face. She began to connect the dots.

"Who are you to say that?" Hawk Moth snarled back, he was tired. The sleepless night with no food and no break finally began to take its tool. Both villains were tired to the point that they were out of their mind, they doubted each other.

Mayura recognized the black fleece onesie as the boy that had just detransformed before them minutes ago. And the villain knew she was looking at Chat Noir as a civilian.

"I am the wielder of the Chat Noir miraculous, not you." Adrien spoke and took one step forward. It was a strange feeling to try to look threatening to a man who was much taller than him and had a magical protective suit.

Mayura recognized the lucky charm tied around Adrien's wrist, red beads with black spots. It was the same bracelet that was tied around the wrist of the arm from which she took the ring off.

"And you will stop me? You would stop me from getting my wish? From wishing my wife back? For my son?" Hawk Moth snarled back at the boy.

Adrien stared at Hawk Moth. Were they wrong? Was this some other person and not his father? But he said his wife. And he saw his mother. So there had to be his father under that mask. There had to be Gabriel Agreste under that mask. Everything pointed at him. And yet, Gabriel Agreste stared down at his own son and did not recognize him?

"Why do you think _your_ _son_ wants any of this?" Adrien asked carefully testing the terrain, but the way he spoke aired self confidence.

"How dare you? Do you know who I am? Of course I know what is best for my son." Hawk Moth confirmed the doubts Adrien had, his father did not recognize him.

Adrien glanced over his clothes. He barely resembled himself. He was dressed without style or fashion sense, in a black fleece onesie that was slightly too big for him. He bought it because it was warm and cute (and because there was matching red one for Ladybug). His face was much darker due to sunburns and his hair was a mess hidden underneath his black hood. He raised his hand and removed the hood and the cap. His blonde hair was a mess going in all directions, windblown and crazy.

Ling and Ye were searching for Marinette and Adrien. They were certain that the two youngsters returned to sleeping in their sleeping bag due to a busy night, but when they found the sleeping bag empty, they became worried. They just entered the wide hallway on the other end after checking the bathrooms. Ling did not need more than a second to flip her phone out of her pocket.

"Yes I do, you are a villain." Adrien smiled his signature Chat Noir crooked smile.

"You are a villain here. You prevented me from bringing back my wife." Hawk Moth snarled. "Who are you to decide about my family? I decided to do this. It is for my son." Hawk Moth snarled accusingly. It was obvious he truly believed his words. Adrien felt defeated. His father never asked him if he wanted any of this. And that was the trigger.

"I do not want any of this, father." Adrien raised his chin. He stood there tall and proud.

Hawk Moth stared at the boy.

"Is that Adrien's father?" Ye whispered to Ling. The girl was holding a hand over her mouth to keep herself silent and just nodded.

Mayura released a high pitch sound while she inhaled sharply. She took a few steps back and looked at Adrien. She studied each feature carefully. He was so different than she remembered him, and she last saw him barely more than ten days ago. Everything was different about him, the posture, the attitude, the clothes, even his face and his eyes had different glow to them.

"Give me the ring and the earrings, they do not belong to you." Adrien demanded.

Hawk Moth slapped him so strong Adrien flew back and was stopped only when his back reached the wall.

"You should be grateful. Look at what I am doing for you. Look at how much I suffered for you. It is all for you." the villain truly believed his words, and now everything he did was Adrien's fault. But the boy was having none of it.

"I do not want it father." Adrien replied looking at the villain straight into his eyes.

"Stop that." Tenzin shouted at the villain, he tried to walk between Adrien and Hawk Moth. But the villain ignored the old man and walked right past him. He did not need the old teacher any more, his healing abilities were not needed any more. He had the miraculous stones.

"You spoiled brat! I know what id good for you!" Hawk Moth snarled at the boy.

"Do not hurt your son if you are doing this for him." Tenzin raised his voice.

"I will teach my son what is good for him. I told you to stay in your room during the holidays. You disobeyed me." Hawk Moth snarled and raised his hand for another hit, but when he finally slammed, Adrien was not there, and he hit the wall.

"I am doing all this to bring you mother back, and this is how you repay me." Hawk Motioned towards the boy with disgust and contempt written all over his face. "By disobeying me, by fighting me?" he spat the words out.

"You are wrong. This is not the way." Adrien spoke loudly and clearly. The words his father had just said had only made him prouder and stronger. Perhaps he did not have Plagg or his lady by his side right then, but he was fighting this fight against his own father assisted by magical superpowers.

"I am right. And this is the right thing for you." This time, when Adrien approached, Hawk Moth waved his stick towards his son, but Adrien was quick to evade the blow.

"Father, please, detransform so I can talk to you." Adrien pleaded but in much more authoritative tone than the words suggested.

"No!" the villain snarled.

Hawk Moth glared at his son. He smashed his hand into a wall because Adrien evaded his blow, he smashed his stick towards the boy, but Adrien threw himself onto the floor and rolled away. A blade stuck out from the stick and cut one of the tapestries, it fell to the floor. The blade got stuck into the temple wall. Hawk Moth was confused for a second before he pulled it out. He expected that the wall would simply crumble when he hit it with his stick just like those rocks on the cliff.

"Stop doing this father." Adrien ordered with as much attitude as he could muster given the circumstances.

Mayura stared at the boy and then at the floor and then at Hawk Moth. There were hundreds of different threads of thought in her head and they all got tangled.

"You ungrateful brat! You do not want your mother back?" Hawk Moth shouted back.

"This is not the way! I love my mum, but I would not hurt the other people to get her back the way you do!" Adrien cried while he evaded another attack.

Tenzin stroked his beard. He knew. The temple walls were protected by similar magic that built the weapons of the miraculous wielders. But he had to do something to protect that boy.

Down on the cliff face, Marinette slowly blinked and then finally opened her eyes. She moved her hands towards her ears. Her earrings were gone.

"Adrien?" she called. But there was no reply.

She quickly got to her feet. She decided to go for the temple first. She first jumped from one rock to another and then another until she reached the path. She did not care she was not transformed and had no way of doing it. She did not care if she fell to her death. Adrien was taken. Her earrings were gone. Tikki was gone. She assumed Hawk Moth knew their identities and took Adrien with him while he disposed of her.

She reached the path and the cave where she found Pema and Dorje who woke up at the same time she did and were just getting out from the cave looking for Adrien and her.

"Hawk Moth got my earrings." she spoke between two heavy breaths. "And Adrien." she added.

Dorje grabbed her and practically carried her while the three of them run up the narrow path towards the temple. They reached the small side door and threw themselves inside, they ran into the main corridor and then Dorje and Pema quickly formed a shield in front of Marinette.

But Marinette took the few steps around and inhaled sharply as she saw how Hawk Moth threatened Adrien with his cane turned into a sword.

"How long have you known? How did you follow me here?" Hawk Moth shouted more while swinging his cane.

"I only learned your identity once I got to this temple, father. And technically, it was you who followed me." Adrien smirked as he threw himself onto the floor and rolled away.

Marinette looked around. The tapestries were hanging on long sticks. She quickly jumped on Dorje's back and climbed onto his shoulders. She grabbed one stick and pulled it to the side. The tapestry fell down, but she had the stick.

"Adrien." she shouted as she threw the stick. Adrien had his back turned, but something in the tone of her voice told him 'catch' so he stretched his arm behind him. And he caught a stick, it was almost two metre long. He hoped the wood was strong. It was, but it was not a weapon aided by magic suitable to fight a villain protected by magical armor.

Dorje moved for a few steps and Marinette grabbed another stick, then she jumped to the floor. Mayura jumped into the battle by attacking Dorje and Pema, but the two monks were on her quickly. Mayura had the superior strength, and Pema got smashed into the wall with the first blow that managed to reach her body. The young monk was not versed in the way the supervillain fought. And she was not protected by the suit.

Marinette stood next to Adrien while both held the wooden sticks.

"Two against one." Hawk Moth glared. "How fair of you."

But the sticks were poor defence against the blade on the tip of Hawk Moth's cane, the stick Marinette held shattered into pieces, but at least it deflected the blow from her body. Marinette grabbed one piece of tapestry that fell onto the floor and threw it into Hawk Moth's face. That moment enabled Adrien to slip away from the blow directed at him.

But while the boy threw himself to the side, Hawk Moth went for his wrist with his empty hand and grabbed the lucky charm bracelet. The thread ripped apart and the beads spread on the floor, with his net step towards Adrien, the villain stepped on the beads and fell. While he was falling he grabbed the curtain and pulled it down, behind the curtain there was a niche with the stone covered by a pair of boxer briefs with the name 'Gabriel Agreste' clearly printed in bold letters on them.


	83. Chapter 83 - The Curse

The curse

'_One man's curse is another man's blessing._'

Hawk Moth attacked Adrien and Marinette, two detransformed kids, who defended themselves with two wooden sticks, and a lot of experiences fighting akumas, not to mention the determination, willpower and the pure power of love.

Of course, the kids had no chance, he smashed the sticks they held with a few easy blows, but while Adrien dodged his attempts, Hawk Moth went to grab his hand and broke the lucky charm bracelet. The beads rolled on the floor and he managed to slip and fall. This enabled Adrien and Marinette to both throw themselves on him.

Marinette pushed Hawk Moth's cane away while Hawk Moth was jumping to his feet. Adrien 'fell' onto Hawk Moth and pulled both earrings and the ring from the villain's pocket while he was getting on his feet. Hawk Moth swung his stick once more and Marinette used the tapestry to distract him and get a few precious parts of a second and both teens escaped just out of the reach from the villain's weapon.

Tenzin, the old teacher monk cheered on the side.

"You should be proud of me!" Adrien shouted. He hid both hands behind his back. There was a small flash of light and Plagg appeared close to the ring. But the old deity of destruction and bad luck had sufficient experience to first hide into Adrien's onesie and assess the situation without ceremonial greeting of his chosen. He felt Plagg phased all the way to his pocket where he kept the cheese.

Adrien was not sure if Hawk Moth noticed that Adrien snatched the ring and the earrings back. But since the villain did not throw himself at the two kids with full force, the boy assumed he did not. Adrien quickly passed the earrings to Marinette behind his back and took one step before her.

"You should be proud of me, father!" Adrien shouted at Hawk Moth.

Marinette took the earrings and in a small flash of light just behind Adrien, there was Tikki. Marinette lowered her head and put her index finger over her mouth while she smiled. Then she put the earrings and Tikki in her pocket where she stored the cookies before.

"Proud of you?" Hawk Moth snarled. He was distracted by the fact that the person standing before him was Adrien. His own perfect and obedient son was this boy with ruffled hair, sunburned face and ridiculous clothes.

"_Proud_ of you?" he stressed the word proud differently. Because the boy who stood before him was also Chat Noir. The pest he was fighting for over a year, the annoying and ridiculous clown was his own son, he even did not have the decency to keep his politeness and grace.

"Proud of _you_?" He spat the words. And the disappointment with himself, because he had failed to recognize the ring he so long strived for, although he held the Book of Lore, that feeling had soon transformed into the disappointment with his own son.

"You want to prevent me from getting back the only woman I love!" Hawk Moth shouted. How could he? How could the boy fight against his own father and prevent him from bringing his own mother back? What kind of monster was he raising under his own roof? With each sentence Hawk Moth swung his cane once more at the two kids before him.

Mayura tensed at his words and turned around giving Dorje precious moments to compose himself. Ye decided to step into the battle by grabbing anything that could be used as a weapon and passing it to the young monk. Ling sneaked over to Pema and gave her a hand to help her stand on her feet all the while she held her phone up.

"I thought ..." Adrien trailed off as he evaded another blow. The boy had a standard move. He stood close to a wall, and then jumped to the side while Hawk Moth would hit the wall that used to be behind him. He would jump as soon as Hawk Moth raised his cane because once the villain started his swing, it was hard to stop the momentum.

"I thought you were with Nathalie now!" Adrien yelled as he rolled over the floor and away from Hawk Moth.

"Why would I be with her?" Hawk Moth shouted incredulously. The question has distracted Mayura sufficiently for Dorje to give her a blow. But she kept her miraculous safe. She grabbed one of the items that Ye had passed to Dorje, it looked as a flat piece of wooden board, it was probably used in the kitchen for cutting something and she threw it as if it was her fan. It rotated, hit the wall and then it changed the rotation speed and the angular momentum brought it back to her. She smirked, perhaps Chat Noir did cataclysm her weapon, but she found a new one.

Hawk Moth was turning around to give another blow to Adrien, but dense cloth (that was in fact a tapestry) wrapped over his face and was held on it by someone who was actually on his back, pushing themself against his back on their feet.

Because, Marinette grabbed the same tapestry again and this time threw it over his head and used it as a leverage as she jumped on his back. This way Hawk Moth could not see and that gave Adrien precious seconds to escape.

But, there was no way for the boy to run away while Marinette was in danger, oh no. The urge to protect her, to shield her from danger, had only increased ever since he had learned her identity. Loosing two close friends instead only one, loosing both girls he loved in place of one, was far more treacherous.

Hawk Moth swung his cane wildly and blindly, it was easy to evade his weapon while Marinette was on his back because the villain had to avoid hitting himself too.

"Kid, you can transform." Plagg advised from the boy's hood announcing that he ate his cheese and was ready. The tone was deep and serious, the old deity was having no nonsense.

"But that might endanger you." Adrien brushed off the suggestion. The boy did not understand exactly what would happen to his kwami, apparently nobody did, but he was sure that transforming in the temple would affect Plagg and his powers.

"Kid, you are already in danger. Let me help you!" The old black cat like kwami pleaded.

"Stay hidden." Adrien hissed back. Because, if Hawk Moth thought he still had the ring and the earrings, Adrien was safer from his wrath. At least that was the logic that the boy was sticking to.

Adrien threw himself on the cane and held it tightly. Hawk Moth shouted but the sound was muffled by the cloth. He waved the cane frantically and Adrien flew in the air along with the cane, almost as if the boy was a flag. But he could not hold onto it for much longer.

"Let go, run away" Marinette shouted from her position while she balanced pushing herself off from Hawk Moth's back. She had, nevertheless, used the opportunity to hold both ends of the tapestry in one hand, while she tried to reach over Hawk Moth's collarbone and grab the pin of his miraculous with the other hand. She crawled her fingers over his chest and was centimetres away from reaching it.

But Hawk Moth used his other hand to grab Marinette's hand and pull her over his shoulder. She flew away from his back while she kept her hold onto the piece of tapestry that was over his face. The tapestry fell around his neck and he could see again.

He aimed to smash the cane (and Adrien) into Marinette. But Adrien managed to turn and direct his body so that he hit Hawk Moth's arm that held Marinette first. Hawk Moth let go of Marinette. Adrien let go of the cane and fell to the floor together with the girl. They both rolled away together as they did so many times while they were in their superhero suits.

"Can I transform Tikki?" Marinette gritted her teeth as they fell on the stone floor.

"It will affect my powers and me." Tikki whispered worriedly. "Permanently."

"But Adrien will get hurt." Marinette whispered to her kwami who was hiding in her onesie.

"Don't!" Adrien hissed. "Don't do this for me!" He noticed Ling at the other end of the corridor with the camera. And then he knew, his father had already lost, he just did not know that yet.

"You despicable excuse of a human being, you do not deserve to call yourself my son." Hawk Moth snarled as he ran for the next attack on the two kids. Marinette rolled them away and behind a stone Buda statue that she fell over the night before. Hawk Moth hit the statue, but the statue did not shatter, his cane bounced off the surface. And that confused Hawk Moth sufficiently to stop his action and stare at the statue incredulously.

This gave time to Adrien and Marinette to jump to their feet.

"You are wrong!" Marinette shouted. "You do not deserve to call yourself his father!" she snarled at the villain while the only thing she had to threaten him with were her bare fists.

Hawk Moth laughed at the girl in front of him. He could not believe her stupidity, a simple civilian girl was threatening him with her bare hands?

"He is the biggest disappointment of my life." Hawk Moth shouted at the girl as if he expected his own breath would just blow her away.

"Yes father, you should be proud of me." Adrien stood tall, he got his ring back, his lady was by his side, and he was sure he was on the right side.

Unfortunately, Hawk Moth also thought he was on the right side.

"You disobey me!" Hawk Moth snarled. "You stand between me and the woman I love."

Mayura took another hit from Dorje, but she recovered quickly. Pema got slammed into a wall again, Ye got hit with the wooden board and Ling escaped and hid behind a tapestry.

"Why are you doing all this? Only to get mum back?" Adrien shouted.

Mayura approached both teens from their back. Dorje threw himself on her back to stop her.

"It is for you. To get back the only person I ever loved." Hawk Moth shouted. All logic was lost on him. He had the eyes of a mad man running through a desert and seeing an oasis where there was no water, only sand and scorching heat.

"You are lying. I never wanted any of this. And you kept her body in the basement of the house where we lived. How sick is that?" he refused to take up the blame for his fathers actions. Adrien was too preoccupied to notice the villain behind his back.

Hawk Moth glared at the boy without any words. He kept her well hidden, he only brought her here for a moment, but she was shielded by the shield from the Carapace sentimonster.

"Yes father, I saw her when you created that teleportation monster. I saw where you kept her. I never knew such room existed in the house." Adrien continued to shout. "And she did too." Adrien motioned towards Marinette. "You just want mother for yourself, I thought you were happy with Nathalie."

Mayura threw her weapon at the two teens. But her moves were far less determined, her eyes were not focused and her face was blank. There was no emotion. She was still fighting, but her mind was somewhere else. She was not sure where.

"Never. She could never replace your mother." Hawk Moth was incredulous, how was Adrien even able to suggest something like that. The villain was not hiding his intentions. Mayura stopped in her track while her eyes followed the wooden board, was there regret in her eyes?

Marinette was turned with her back to Hawk Moth, back to back with Adrien, she saw and deflected the flying wooden board with a piece of a stick she picked up from the ground. Mayura sighed with relief, but then she looked at Hawk Moth and she was flushed with devotion all over again. Perhaps if she just got those two kids to sit and listen, they would understand, at least Adrien should, she was not so sure what to expect from the girl.

"You prefer to have this girl instead of your mother?" The man snarled at his son with contempt.

"I love her, father!" the boy cried back. "I love them both, but mum is gone!"

"Too bad, I was hoping she will be the one to use to bring your mother back!" Hawk Moth gloated while she shouted the words. He expected to mess up with Adrien's mind, that he would loose concentration because of such a threat.

Marinette stared at Mayura who was taking her time while she was picking up the weapon from the floor where it fell after it ricocheted off the stick and the wall.

"She is nothing." Hawk Moth threw himself forward and grabbed Marinette by her neck. Adrien jumped to the side and pulled her along, but he was too slow.

Mayura raised her eyes. There was a tear flowing from one of her eyes. How many times she had to hear that? How many times was her heart to shatter to pieces and she would still love him? Because, even then, she could not bring herself to fight against Gabriel.

"Let her go, father!" Adrien begged. He watched how he grabbed the neck of the girl he loved. He hoped he will not snap it. Because the enhanced strength Hawk Moth had would enable him to do so in a split of a second.

Marinette just felt the pressure on her neck. She could still breathe with difficulty and there was blood reaching her brain so she was conscious, but dizzy. She tried to hit Hawk Moth with a piece of stick she still held in her hand.

But Hawk Moth preferred to keep her wiggling and watch Adrien panic. He had time to change his mind and end the girl's life with a literal snap of his fingers.

"Let her go and take me. I am giving myself away willingly." Adrien dropped whatever he picked up from the floor previously and planned to use as a weapon, he raised his bare hands in surrender.

"Please father?"

It made sense, she could bring him back whatever his father did to him.

"You can transform kid." Plagg urged from his hiding place in the folds of the black hood of his onesie.

Hawk Moth held Marinette high like a trophy in his left hand while he continued to threaten Adrien with his cane. He stopped attacking and looked around. He was not there to fight his son, he was there to bring his wife back, and for that, he needed to teleport her, or himself, and for that he needed an akuma or a sentimonster with such powers.

"You have distracted me long enough!" the man despised the boy in front of him. The villain turned his head around while his eyes searched for a butterfly, but there was none. Then he stared at Mayura.

Adrien looked at Marinette's face worry and sadness all over him. She concentrated on her breathing and tried to reassure him with her eyes. Adrien breathed in and strengthened his resolve.

"We need a sentimonster, the one that provided teleportation the first time would suffice." Hawk Moth issued the order as if he was ordering his morning coffee.

Mayura stood in her spot and stared at the villain reluctantly. She did not move, did not produce a feather and did not evilize it.

"Look at this mess you've made." Hawk Moth continued to scan the area with his eyes. And then he noticed the underwear with the signature logo of his name. Hawk Moth looked at the offending piece of underwear with disgust. It was his name, it was his company logo all over them, it was his own design, it was a special line, it was worn by his own son and worst of all, of all items, he had to lose a piece of underwear. (But the writer expects such item would really have the name written in huge letters on it.)

"And look what disgrace you brought to my name!" Hawk Moth shouted from the top of his voice. Finally he made a decision, he dropped Marinette unceremoniously to the floor and bent over and grabbed the offending item while he stared at Adrien. He only noticed that there was a stone when he was already raising his hand.


	84. Chapter 84 - The Blessing

Note: posted after a really long day ... my tired brain says it is ok.

The Blessing

'_One man's curse is another man's blessing._'

Hawk Moth dropped Marinette to the floor and snarled towards Adrien while he picked up the offending clothing item – the Gabriel Agreste brand boxer shorts and the stone they covered from the niche in the wall.

"Should I be proud of this?" he raised the hand. "Should I be proud of what you have done when this item got abandoned in this corner?" Hawk Moth toned his words in a mocking way that insinuated a particular type of action. His words made both Marinette and Adrien blush.

The old teacher, Tenzin, stiffened and his eyes widened when he saw that Hawk Moth held the stone. Then he muttered a few words and continued to observe carefully.

Marinette stared at the rock in Hawk Moth's hand. Wasn't that supposed be the infamous cursed stone? She thought she recognized it in the night. How did it work? Did it work at all? She expected spectacular effects, Hawk Moth should at least detransform, or drop unconscious, or start singing Chinese national anthem, anything, but the villain remained unaffected by the stone. Apparently, it did not have any magical powers. Marinette felt like a failure. It was just a stone, nothing more, nothing less, no powers, nothing happened.

"Children are supposed to be a blessing for their parents." Hawk Moth talked mockingly towards Adrien. The boy was holding Marinette and checking her condition. She forced herself to get up so Adrien helped her to get on her feet.

Ling was hiding covered under a tapestry pretending to be a pile of rubble. But she kept the phone out hoping that it will catch the action on video.

Adrien ignored the words. All he cared about was that Marinette was okay.

"You are not my blessing." Hawk Moth snarled. "I was cursed by your existence. If not for you, Emilie would never have done that!" he continued to shout, but he stopped all attacks.

Tenzin was whispering words quickly as if he was speedily chanting all their morning prayers.

"Do you still have the earrings?" Adrien whispered to Marinette.

"They are with me safely." Tikki chipped quietly from Marinette's pocket.

"I should put them on if I want to transform." Marinette whispered back.

"No" a black kwami and his chosen replied in unison.

"I already have the ring on my hand." Adrien whispered back.

They faced each other but did not look at each other, but over the other's shoulder, they were watching each other's back.

"And to think of … I have let you be a part of my dream! I let you be a part of my brand!" Hawk Moth waved the offending piece of underwear, but physically, he was crumbling. He was approaching the two teens and continued shouting insults at his son.

Mayura was running towards them while Dorje, Pema and Ye lied on the floor of the corridor in various states, all three temporarily incapacitated for further fight.

Marinette saw Mayura approached quickly and threw herself on her, the girl's hand aimed at the brooch, but the villain extended her arm in front of her chest to defend herself. Marinette was not easy to deter. Mayura hit Marinette hard, the blow was intended to push the girl away so she would fall and fling away all the way to the wall, but the girl latched onto the villain's arm.

Adrien noticed Hawk Moth stopped with his physical attacks, he was shouting verbal insults the whole time. The speech was intended to crumble him emotionally, he was supposed to feel guilty for everything his father did, as Gabriel Agreste and as Hawk Moth. Everything was Adrien's fault, everything was because of Adrien, his mother's disappearance, his fathers – Hawk Moth's quest for the Ladybug's earring and Chat Noirs ring. Everything that happened was because of him, but the boy refused to take the blame this time.

Adrien made a step towards Hawk Moth who was visibly weaker by each moment. There was no attack back so he quickly took one more step. At that exact moment, Hawk Moth finally reacted he raised his cane and swung, but Adrien evaded it. Hawk Moth threw the stone from his hand towards Adrien, but the boy stepped aside and jumped at Hawk Moth. One strong grab with his hand, one stiffly clenched fist and a strong pull.

Hawk Moth smashed the boy's torso with his cane before it disintegrated together with the magical suit the villain was wearing. Hawk Moth forcibly detransformed into Gabriel Agreste.

The stone missed Adrien but it continued flying towards Mayura and Marinette. The villain raised her arm and grabbed the girl to use her as a shield. But Marinette jumped to the side just enough. The stone missed Marinette and hit Mayura straight into her brooch. Mayura relaxed only for a moment, but that was sufficient. Marinette's hand was firmly around the brooch and as Mayura pushed and thrown the girl away, Marinette pulled and ripped the brooch of her chest. The girl flew away and crushed into the wall. Mayura detransformed into Nathalie.

The stone that so merrily bounced off the brooch rolled straight back to the niche from which it was taken.

Marinette clenched her fist. She felt the hard brooch in her hand. She had hit the wall with her back first and she used her legs to slow down the fall, she was now curled on the floor with her back on the wall. But Mayura was Nathalie and she was sure she had the brooch in her hand. She did it. But she was in pain and dazed from the hit and Nathalie was going in her direction. She had to defend herself, she had to act, now.

Adrien was on the floor, motionless. He got hit over the ribs and his back and he instinctively protected his head with his arms while his fist was clenched because he held the pin, the butterfly miraculous. Adrien hit the floor hard. He saw Hawk Moth's legs detransform into civilian clothes. His fist was below his head. He heard Mayura slammed Marinette into the wall with a painful thud.

"No!" Gabriel Agreste screamed and kicked Adrien with his foot.

Adrien curled up quickly. But then he rolled away to evade the next blow. Then he saw Nathalie was detransformed but she was going for Marinette who was on the floor, probably injured.

"No" Adrien screamed at Nathalie, he crawled up on all fours, he crawled towards Marinette to help her, to protect her, to do anything. But he got hit into his back, by his father. He finally dropped the pin from his fist, just below his chest.

But, Plagg phased out from his clothes below him, collected the pin and hid in the boy's pocket.

Nathalie ran over and stood before Marinette, she was about to throw herself on the girl, but Marinette pushed her legs forward, her feet hit Nathalie in her ankles and she lost her balance. Marinette gained enough momentum to roll away, and Nathalie hit the floor. But the woman was quick and agile, she bounced back and went after Marinette. The girl scrambled on her feet, quickly put the brooch in her pocket and picked up one short piece of stick that was left over from the fight and a piece of tapestry. She shouted, she groaned, she screamed and run at Gabriel Agreste. She slammed the stick and the tapestry and her body into the tall man who was about to hit Adrien once more.

Gabriel had to take a few steps back from the blow and finally reached the wall but he kept his balance. His hands found Marinette's neck again. He was strong, he held her away by her neck and finally lifted her off from the floor. Marinette was facing him this time.

Nathalie pushed Adrien with her foot and rolled him over..

"His hands are empty." she said.

"He must have dropped it." Gabriel replied.

Gabriel let go one of his hands from Marinette's neck and used it to search her body for the miraculous she must have taken from Nathalie. But just when he got close enough to reach her pocket where Tikki was hiding, she swung her leg and hit him straight between his legs. He had no magic armour this time. His body curled straight away as a reflex. He dropped her to the floor.

Adrien was motionless, his eyes only slightly opened. He saw Marinette was held by her neck again, but then she was dropped to the floor (again).

Nathalie kicked him again to roll him away.

"I can't find it." she screamed. The panic finally took her. She was physically tired, no food and no rest was taking its toll.

"Search him!" Gabriel squeaked in unnaturally high pitch voice, Nathalie turned towards her boss and stared at him for a moment, she never heard him talk with such tone.

Gabriel reached for Marinette. He could see where her pocket was, he just had to put his hand in.

But then he was pushed away, he was forced to lay on his stomach and someone pushed him to the floor. Dorje and Ling held him tight, both put one of their knees to his torso.

Ling was screaming insults in any language she knew (and apparently she knew insults in a variety of languages). Dorje simply sighed with relief, his body ached from the fight.

Tenzin was approaching with slow and careful steps muttering words in his chin.

At the same time, Pema tackled Nathalie to the floor and Ye simply held her by her shoulders to the floor with her face down.

Tenzin approached Marinette very closely and muttered a few words. Tikki pushed the brooch out of the pocket just enough for Tenzin to fetch it.

Then Tenzin slowly walked over to Adrien and spoke quietly. Plagg pushed the pin out of the boy's pocket and Tenzin grabbed it before it landed onto the floor.

"I will now ask all of you to close your eyes." Tenzin ordered solemnly.

Marinette and Adrien first reached for each other and held hands before they closed their eyes. Ye made sure he was holding Nathalie well and then obeyed. Pema crouched by his side and pressed with her hands and knees. Ling closed her eyes. Dorje sighed again and closed his eyes.

Tenzin chanted a tune and stroked the brooch and the pin. Nooroo appeared first with the usual flash of light, but the kwami looked very tired and could barely open his eyes.

"Yes master" Nooroo spoke quietly and tiredly.

Tenzin simply smiled and stroke the brooch once more. This time in a faint flash of light there was Dusuu, but with a similar exhausted expression.

"Hello master." the kwami muttered tiredly.

"I want you to go to your previous wielders and take all their memories of ever wielding a miraculous and everything that happened in that time." the old teacher ordered.

The two tired kwami were sitting on the palms of his hands and just blinked towards the old teacher. Tenzin looked at them kindly and hummed. He knew he did not need to repeat the instruction. Kwami blinked tiredly again. Tenzin hummed a slow tune that resembled the melody they chanted at the breakfast prayers. It was supposed to enhance the energy of the monks and prepare them for the day. He hummed gently and waited.

Adrien held Marinette's hand with his eyes closed. His back hurt with each breath, his body was bruised on so many places he could not detect individual sources of pain. Through his pain, he heard the gentle tune that monk chanted and stroke the back of her hand with his thumb. He felt her hand was warm, he felt she pressed his hand back, she was alive, she was conscious and he knew that everything will be okay.

Marinette felt his grip, her whole body ached it was painful to breathe. She closed her eyes when asked to and she was not even tempted to open them. The hand she held was warm and safe and everything she needed. She squeezed back from time to time just to assure him that she was also there. She concentrated on his touch. She put the pain away and everything that mattered was that hand she held. She smiled even though it was painful because of the injuries on her face. After a few of his strokes she stroked the back of his hand back.

Ling kept her eyes closed and waited. The tune that Tenzin hummed was calming but strengthening at the same time. It gave her the strength to push the man down and keep him there. She was curious about what was going to happen but she saw enough to obey the instructions from the old monk. Because she did not want to witness anything like that again, like ever. So she put her weight onto her knee and arms and pushed the man down.

Ye was in pain, everything hurt and all he wanted was for this fight to finish so he can go and examine his wounds. The tune was nice, it made his pain almost go away, he concentrated on the tune and found the strength to hold the woman down. But why was the man humming? Shouldn't they tie up those two villains and hand them over to authorities?

Dorje and Pema closed their eyes although they knew what was going to happen. They let the tune of the chant enter their ears, wash over their brains and their bodies. Somehow, it became easier to breathe and their minds became clearer. After the first minute they started to hum along the same tune with Tenzin.

Gabriel was furious, but his exhausted and hungry civilian body was too weak to resist two strong and determined persons who pushed him down. He refused to close his eyes as if that would prevent whatever the old monk intended for them. He heard the order that the old monk issued only partially. He tried to wiggle his way out or move, but the strong young monk just pressed him harder. He was pressed so hard it became difficult to breathe, so Gabriel stopped to resist.

Nathalie succumbed to the pressure and her feelings. She knew it was finished. Gabriel was there and not moving (much) so she stayed still. She waited for him to make the move. And then she heard Tenzin speak, but she did not understand what was going to happen. Perhaps this was for the best, perhaps now Gabriel was going to finally let go of his wife and start to look at her? Perhaps this was what was needed for him to have his closure.

When three monks hummed along, the two kwami finally opened their eyes wide and floated up from the hands that held them. They slowly and silently floated over to Gabriel and Nathalie. Dusuu floated over to Nathalie and placed himself on her back, he turned towards Tenzin and waited.

Nooroo took his time, he was barely able to direct himself, he finally sat on Gabriel's back and looked towards Tenzin. But the man started to move as soon as he felt the pressure of the kwami on his back.

Tenzin changed the tune and sang much louder, Pema and Dorje quickly followed. The two kwami slowly closed their eyes. There was something like a flash of light from the kwami to the head of their former wielders and after that Tenzin dropped the two miracoulous and the kwami were sucked in instantly.

"You can open your eyes now." Tenzin instructed calmly. He bent over and retrieved the two miraculous jewels and stored them in his pocket.

Gabriel and Nathalie were unconscious.


	85. Chapter 85 - The Healing

The Healing

After Dusuu and Nooroo removed the memories of their former wielders, Tenzin let them be sucked back into the miraculous jewels and allowed everyone to open their eyes.

Dorje felt the body of the man he was holding to the floor relax. The man was breathing slowly, but the young strong monk did not want to relax just yet, one moment of weakness and they might have to go through it all all over again.

Ling simply blinked her eyes open and looked at the man below her. His eyes were closed. She sighed with relief. Is it over? Is it really over? She looked at Adrien, poor boy, his father was such a terrible person. He will need all emotional support he could get.

Ye opened his eyes and stared at the woman he held. She looked like she was sleeping. Well, the old man apparently put her to sleep. Good idea. Now he could go and check his wounds. He felt like every part of him was hurting. He glanced towards Adrien and Marinette, they were not moving, were they okay.

Pema rolled to the side and sat down on the floor before she opened her eyes. She knew what the teacher was doing, her limbs were in so much pain that she looked for a less painful position as soon as she deemed safe.

Adrien and Marinette kept holding hands. She opened her eyes and looked at him with worried eyes. Was he hurt? Was he in pain? Adrien opened his eyes and smiled to her.

"You can let them go, they will be unconscious for at least hours." Tenzin encouraged everyone present. "Or days. It might be much longer, their memories should be gone." The teacher finished in a more warning tone.

'Hours? Days? Master Fu was not unconscious for such a long time. Perhaps it was because he did it willingly.' Marinette wandered if it was safe to be so relaxed beside the two people they just fought so relentlessly and suffered so much from their blows. Adrien noticed her worried face and thought about the same issues. He smiled reassuringly. He did not want to turn around and look at his father, it would increase the pain he already felt in his body, not to mention his heart. No, he kept his eyes on Marinette, because that caused the pain to subside.

Marinette lifted her head from the floor and winced in pain, she slowly got herself into a sitting position while she never let go of Adrien's hand. She knew he needed her. She looked around and noticed Gabriel and Nathalie were lying, face down. It felt surreal. She looked back at Adrien who was struggling to get up without letting go of her hand. She closed her eyes for a moment as she was gathering her strength to move up.

"Dorje, Pema, please help these kids to reach the healing place. I believe they are in great need." Tenzin instructed with a gentle smile but his eyes were worried. Marinette did not understand everything that the old teacher was saying, but she did not want to ask Adrien or Ling for an explanation, she just watched everyone's reaction.

Ye collapsed to the floor and Ling ran over to him.

"I will take care of this young man until you return." he smiled stroking his beard as he motioned towards Ye.

The old teacher approached Ye, Ling helped him up and they slowly went towards the bathrooms.

The two monks slowly got on their feet. Their bodies ached, Dorje had swollen hands from the blows he had taken and Pema felt slightly dizzy from the times when she got slammed into the wall.

Marinette opened her eyes and saw that Adrien was looking at her. He smiled widely when he saw her blue eyes again. She smiled even wider. Were they allowed to celebrate? Have they won? They were sitting facing each other and just stared with small gentle smiles on their lips.

Dorje bent over with a painful sigh but full of determination. He patted Adrien on the shoulder gently, he barely touched the boy. He knew Adrien was injured and it would hurt wherever he would be touched. Pema approached Marinette but did not make a move. She just quietly called her name.

But the two teens just stared at each other and the rest of the world did not exist any more.

Then Marinette felt Tikki pat her belly from the pocket where the little goddess was hidden.

Adrien felt Plagg phased all the way into his onesie and was scratching him on the chest.

Then they both looked up and saw the two exhausted monks waiting for them.

It was time to get on their feet. Their job was not finished yet.

"Right" Marinette muttered as she tried and failed to get herself from the floor. She had to leave the temple, transform and call for the miraculous Ladybug magic to cure their injuries and restore everything.

Adrien lifted himself off from the floor slowly with the help of his arms. His back hurt awfully.

Dorje extended his arms and gently put his hands under the boys armpits to help him up. Adrien was grateful although the move caused him more pain. He was on his feet, his knees were wobbly, his head felt dizzy, his vision was blurred.

"You don't have to go." Marinette mumbled. She barely managed to sit up. Pema extended her hands and offered them for Marinette to grab. The girl raised her arms towards the monk and finally Pema grabbed her and pulled her up. Marinette screamed in pain. It hurt her. But she muffled her scram quickly with few sharp breaths. She was on her feet, but she needed help to stand straight, her knees refused to cooperate and she felt light headed.

"You can take the earrings." she whispered to the monk. Pema just murmured her negative response. Tikki checked their surroundings and noticed the coast was clear. She floated out with the earrings and hovered before the girl's face.

"You have to do this, Marinette!" Tikki warned. Marinette slowly took the earrings and put them into her ears, one by one.

"Adrien, you do not have to go if it hurts you." Marinette whispered.

"But I want to go" Adrien replied.

Plagg floated out from his pocket and stared at Adrien and then at Marinette.

"My kid is going." he stated resolutely.

Adrien smiled wider and winced at the same time because each time he did that, he felt the pain of injuries on his face.

They slowly proceeded towards the side exit. Pema had to hold Marinette upright while the girl simply moved her feet one in front of another.

They walked slowly through the narrow corridor. Once they started to move their feet it became easier, they simply repeated the same move over and over again. Once they were in the narrow corridor, they sought support from its walls, they leaned on them while they walked and scrubbed the hard wals with their shoulders, it hurt their shoulders and their backs, but it was easier on their feet.

Once they got out from the temple they were on their own, without support from the walls, just each other. Their legs were moving on their own along the same narrow path that was partially cut into the face of the cliff.

"You are doing great, Marinette" Tikki encouraged her chosen while she sat on the girls shoulder.

"Go on kid, we are almost finished" Plagg floated backwards in front of Adrien and Dorje. "You would have more strength if you ate more cheese." Adrien reached in his pocket, and to his surprise, he found one small piece of cheese left. He took it out, smelled and then scrunched his nose, looked at it with disgust and turned his head away.

"Nah, you can have it." Adrien tossed the cheese into the air and Plagg swallowed it whole. Adrien returned his crooked grin.

"Almost there Marinette." Tikki chirped her encouragements.

"Oh no." Adrien stopped walking instantly and turned towards the girl. "We left your lucky charm, the beads, they spilled onto the floor. He fell over them." The thought of walking back all that distance only made him more aware of each body part that was hurting.

Marinette stopped in her tracks. Her eyes went wide, her face was a picture of horror.

"Oh no, not going back. So painful." She waved her head quickly, which only made her more aware of just how painful her neck was because Hawk Moth and Gabriel Agreste squeezed it. Then she took a few breaths. "Well one has to do what one has to do." She sighed painfully and started to turn around.

"That is okay." Tikki replied. "You do not have to retrieve it. That was not a real lucky charm, it was more like that present I made you for your birthday. It was my way to wish you luck in that fight." The little red goddess of creation hovered before Marinette and Adrien while she was explaining what she did. Her antennas were swinging wildly. Her blue eyes looked at her chosen with a mixture of sorrow and gentleness. "I knew you needed real luck, not just a lucky charm." She continued after a short break and looked down.

Marinette remembered how she found the situation bad, how she knew they were missing allies. And she was right, they won only when they got back to the temple and got a few allies, althought they were all mere civilians,

"Just go to the cave and transform. Both of you!" Tikki hurried them up. She looked at Plagg for the last sentence and he took the hint, his eyes widened in excitement. Then he nodded his head.

"Both of us?" Adrien asked surprised, he just wanted to be there for Marinette, and he did not want to leave her side, for himself.

"Both of you." Tikki and Plagg replied in unison while they waved their heads up and down.

"But why?" Both kids asked simultaneously. There were many things going on that were different from the fights they were used to. Too many things. And they did not understand them. Suddenly they both realized, this was because they had much to learn.

"We will see." Pema finally spoke while she eyed both kwami with one raised eyebrow. "We cant tell if it will work but we have to try."

Adrien turned to look into Marinettes face. She shrugged and then winced in pain because the move reminded her of the injuries she sustained. Adrien shrugged back with the same reaction.

"Come on, the sooner we get there, the sooner the pain will go away." Tikki flipped her antennas and floated away, Plagg followed her instantly.

"I just wish someone would tell us what are we doing." Marinette muttered.

"Ah, they want to do this together, I guess." Adrien guessed.

"I don't think it is that." Marinette narrowed her eyes while she looked in the direction of their kwami.

"You are right, they hope you will fix some wrongs that were done far beyond your time." Pema explained slowly while her voice said her mind was half way somewhere else. "Or mine." She finally added.

They reached the same small cave they used for their transformations.

"Are we going to keep our miraculous?" Adrien asked while he looked at Plagg. Were they done? Were they to keep the miraculous if they were done? Was this a goodbye?

The question did not even occur to Marinette before that moment.

"Is this the last time we transform?" Marinette asked and looked at her kwami with a mixture of worry and sadness. The girl was not ready to say goodbye to her kwami.

"If your identities were not revealed then you don't have to." Plagg replied hopefully. The old deity did not want to abandon his chosen, the boy survived and needed his kwami more for emotional than for physical strength.

"I think they are safe, if the teacher watched the fight and let you go." Tikki added.

"Tenzin will take care of your cousins." Pema spoke again, but there was some strange and bitter coldness in her tone that was totally unnatural for her.

"Will he remove their memories too? Oh no." Marinette cried, that was her first concern and one look at the face of the young woman confirmed to the girl that her suspicions were right.

"They are civilians, he shouldn't do that." Dorje said coldly and looked away.

"But Ling had her phone on us. She might have been streaming live to Alya." Adrien warned and sighed. His thoughts wandered away.

"It is okay, I just want to remember everything that happened." Adrien smiled to his hands. But then he looked at his kwami.

"I am so sorry Plagg, I will miss you." He whispered.

"There is still time, nobody is taking your miraculous just yet." Plagg replied with a touch of sadness in his eyes. He wished they allowed Pigtails to keep the miracle box, then she would have been the guardian and it was her call. And Plagg felt he would persuade the girl easily. But that was not the case.

Marinette just stroked Tikki who nuzzled her cheek. They were exchanging their concerns and assurances without words.

"Everything will be okay." Tikki finally chirped to both kids.

They both transformed.

Ladybug called for the lucky charm. She got a red phone with black spots.

"Well I guess that will be our next step." Ladybug smirked at Chat Noir. They both took the phone and threw it into the air together.

"Miraculous Ladybug." They said in unison and the swirl of ladybugs washed over them, over their bodies and over the two monks that were with them. Dorje straightened up instantly with a wide smile and sigh of relief, the pain was gone, the memory of it was still there and he tried different moves that caused him pain before, he stretched with satisfaction.

Pema smiled. Her head and neck were far better and she did not feel so dizzy any more. This part of the cure worked.

Ladybug and Chat Noir both smirked at the same time.

The pain was gone.

"It was an honour to do this with you." Ladybug said solemnly while she offered her fist.

"It was my pleasure and my honour." Chat Noir replied and raised his fist.

Then they both looked at Pema and Dorje and waved their head encouraging them to join in.

"Pound it!" They said in unison, the two monks laughing along.

"We should repeat this with your cousins, you know?" Chat Noir winked towards Ladybug and she smiled back, then her face fell slightly, because of the phone.

Then, both heroes detransformed.

"Sorry, I have no more food here." Adrien apologized to his kwami.

"That is okay." Plagg replied as he hid in the boys hair.

Marinette laughed and checked her pockets, but came up empty. She shrugged and looked at her kwami apologetically, but Tikki just patted her cheek and landed on the girls shoulder.

"Lets go back and check that phone, shall we?" Marinette became more serious.

They walked back easily, there was no pain. But they were tired and hungry.


	86. Chapter 86 - The Ultimate Scoop

The Ultimate Scoop

The day was ending, the sun was setting behind the mountain, everything was painted in the shades of orange and red. All the colours were warm and inviting. They stopped for a while and just admired the scene. The outer walls of the temple glowed in the vivid colours of the sunset, the snow covered peaks of the surrounding mountains glowed in the same colour as the flame on a candle. The valley below was slowly consumed by the shade of the mountain shadow that progressed over the terrain unevenly. They took their time to enjoy the scene with tired but proud smiles on their faces. Adrien pulled Marinette into a hug. It was starting to get cold quickly and they were tired. And he needed her for his anchor. And she needed to know that he was there. They slowly proceeded to the small side door they used to sneak out so many times.

They got back to the main corridor, Dorje stepped out first and checked the floor, Gabriel and Nathalie were gone, he made a few panicked steps but then stopped. The others followed quickly and their first reaction was similar as their first thought was that somehow the two had escaped. Tenzin was waiting for them.

"They are both taken by the government and army." The old monk spoke while he stroked his beard and smiled a particular kind of smile, the one that communicated a secret, and it meant that the secret was safe.

The four released an audible sigh of relief.

"What about Ling and Ye?" Adrien asked when Marinette nudged him to speak, she swallowed the lump in her throat and her eyes begged for an answer.

"They are both fine. You did your job well." Tenzin smiled at the two teens. Then he winked. "I did not have to do anything, you fixed it all."

Marinette smiled widely, okay, nobody was messing up with her cousin's memories. Adrien squeezed her shoulders while he smiled widely. He was able to keep Plagg, he really wanted to keep the grumpy cheese glutton, if only to talk to him.

"And the phone?" Marinette asked worriedly. There was still this tiny matter of Ling being a lot like Alya (who could blame her) in that respect. And the girl did not mind that, really, when it was working on her behalf, because that was the was to keep everyone believing that Chat Noir and Ladybug learned about the attacks through the Ladyblog and teleported, that was needed, that was what kept their identities a secret, and yet, the same thing might have revealed their identities to the world. Or at least Alya.

"I think that there is nothing more on the phone than they saw in real life." Tenzin replied calmly. "They did not know." He added quietly. The old monk did not understand exactly how those devices worked because the students somehow managed to find the facts there that they did not know previously. But he was shown videos of previous battles and assumed that they could record only what they saw.

Marinette felt Tikki pat her belly as the kwami tried to calm her down. If everything had worked out that well, there was no use for her chosen to reveal herself due to her nervous nature. Adrien took her hand as he felt Marinette might panic and blabber out words that would just raise suspicion. She smiled back and squeezed his hand. She could do this.

"Okay, we should just keep quiet and see." She whispered and Adrien nodded. She understood that sometimes the best reaction was keeping her mouth shut, if only she could accomplish that.

"No 'I can explain' before we see what is in the video." he winked at her and she smiled sheepishly while she blushed. He knew her so well. And he was so nice to her.

The moment was quickly interrupted by squealing and running Ling who practically collided into Marinette before she stopped.

"Marinette, Adrien you are ok! I am so happy. I knew you'll get better. Ye got fixed completely. Teacher said you will too, but I had to see it to believe it. I was livestreaming everything directly to the Ladyblog." Ling exclaimed waving her phone. "You should call Alya and Nino, they want to hear from you two." The girl was so excited that she was jumping on her feet. She was so happy and so proud.

Adrien looked at Marinette and she looked back at him. None of them wanted to look at that fight, that would force them to relive it, to see Hawk Moth and Mayura again, to see what they did to them, to see them detransform.

"You know we should call them." Adrien smiled and then winked. He decided he did not want to watch that fight, like ever, if possible. He was looking forward to talking to his friends.

Marinette stiffened, she dreaded the call, she knew how many questions Alya could push on and she was not looking forward to answering any of those. Adrien smirked. He wanted to speak to his friends.

"Perhaps we should call my parents and your bodyguard first?" Marinette asked hesitantly.

"Of course, here, I'll call your maman." Ling already pressed the call button and the phone on the other side was ringing.

That talk was hard. Marinette asked her maman to put the call on loudspeaker when she heard Adrien's bodyguard was there and she did the same so the boy could participate. And then they explained what happened, as briefly as they could. There were gasps on the other side, there were shouts and there were long periods of silence before anyone asked her to continue.

"And maman, if you go to the internet, you might find a video. You do not want to watch that, we had to fight them you know, please do not watch that, okay?" Marinette begged. She hoped and prayed to any deity that is there that her parents never see that video. She knew there was a slim chance to avoid that, but she still hoped. Her maman was silent. There was only silence.

"I am not making any promises." Sabine finally answered, because in the background two large men were already loading the video.

"Maman, please." Marinette begged.

"It is a bit too late for that I would say from the way your father and Adrien's bodyguard are behaving." Sabine replied to her daughter sounding a bit distracted as if she was watching something (of course it could only be the said video).

"Okay but maman, please be assured that we are completely well, we are not injured, Ladybug miraculous cure fixed us completely." Marinette begged her mother.

"Yes madam, please tell them that we are okay, it probably looks worse that it actually was." Adrien added. "We are perfectly fine and well, just a little bit tired, that's all."

Sabine wanted to tell him that they all knew well he could not possibly be fine and well after everything that happened, but decided not to remind the boy that he should not be that.

"I believe you that you are not physically injured, but if you want to talk about this more, you can, any time, Tom and me are her for you, and your bodyguard too." Sabine replied assuringly.

"Thank you, we will, but I think we might have to talk to Alya now." Adrien replied with a hint of a smile in his voice.

"Oh, yes of course, but are you sure you are up to that? Perhaps you should take your time, you know? That girl could also wait a little bit." Sabine half teased half seriously warned them that she was not expecting only a friendly conversation from that.

Adrien quickly went to fetch his phone while Marinette hesitated.

"I will try to keep Alya in check." Marinette promised and knew she was probably going to fail, because she knew Alya, but she had to do it to protect Adrien.

"Hey Nino" Adrien already placed the video call and got a connection on the first beep. He got to Marinette and wrapped his arms around her as per usual.

"Okay, maman, Adrien already called them, I will get back to you." Marinette greeted her mother who absent mindedly replied her greeting along with something Tom squeezed through his teeth while Adrien's bodyguard merely grunted and Sabine cut the call. Their attention was obviously. consumed by the video they were watching.

"Adrien, dude, hey" Nino greeted from the screen. They could see he was in Alya's room. She was staring at the screen intently and ignored him. "Are you okay?" Nino asked.

"We are both fine, none of us is injured." Adrien smiled and Marinette nodded.

"The others are not injured too." she added after a while. Nino just looked at them and smiled.

"Dude, I have seen that fight and … I am just so glad you called that I am able to see you are okay after all that." Nino took his hat off and wiped his eyes with his sleeve.

"We are okay." Marinette confirmed again and smiled again, she wiggled her fingers in greeting as if that should demonstrate she had no physical injuries.

"Is Alya okay?" Adrien asked as he pointed to Alya on the screen. Alya was squirming and hitting the air as she watched something on her screen.

"Oh she is ..." Nino turned around. "Oh, come on, babe not again." he walked over to his girlfriend and put his phone between Alya's face and the computer screen.

"Hey Alya, it is Adrien! And Marinette! Look!" Nino shouted while he pulled her chair around.

"They are okay, look!"

"Are you okay?" Alya asked, her voice was hoarse, her eyes wet, there were traces of tears down her face.

"We are not injured. Ladybug and Chat Noir fixed everything in the end." Adrien smiled.

Marinette smiled too.

Alya and Nino stared at the screen

"So they did come?" Alya asked after a long pause. Her face was blank. Of course, they did not know, nobody knew, they were not in the video, they just fixed everything from afar.

"Yes, they did." Adrien confirmed and they both nodded eagerly.

"But you had to fight .. why have you fought? Nino asked

"You see, Ladybug and Chat could not enter the temple so we had to." Marinette finally spoke once she understood that their identities are still preserved. Alya and Nino would know that Ladybug and Chat Noir were there if they even suspected their true identities.

"What happened?" Alya asked. "And do you mind if I record your answer and put it on the Ladyblog?" Leave it to Alya to have a scoop.

"Babe? What?" Nino asked incredulously but Alya showed him away with her elbow.

Marinette rolled her eyes at her best friend. She was about to say yes they minded they minded a lot, they needed friends and not journalists at that moment, but to her amazement and utter horrification someone had beaten to it with his answer.

"No, Alya, we would not mind at all." Adrien replied cheerfully as if it was mere nothing. Marinette worried, she worried a lot, but she gave in, because he said so. Perhaps that was what he needed.

"Please do not live stream that Alya!" Marinette warned.

"No, she won't and I'll supervise what she publishes. It is my phone she is using right now!" Nino promised.

So Adrien and Marinette took turns in telling how they got teleported to the lair and how they saw Adrien's mum. Adrien cried but insisted on telling the story.

"I hope you do not publish this Alya." Marinette threatened with her eyes squinted and her eyebrows furrowed.

"You can if you want." Adrien interrupted. "Just please edit some parts out. Or not. I don't care."

Then they continued leaving out the stuff they did transformed and everything that took place outside the temple.

"How did you know that Hawk Moth had taken the miraculous from Ladybug and Chat Noir?" Alya shot her next question.

"I heard them talk ..." Adrien trailed off. He did not have to pretend to look hurt and unabe to talk, he really was and Alya had the decency to be satisfied with that answer.

"And you decided to just go and steal them back, dude?" Nino asked while his eyebrows raised all the way up that they physically could.

"Yeah, I had to do something." Adrien spoke. "He was .. I cant" Adrien just looked down and stopped talking. He was still holding Marinette with one hand and he just strengthened his hold. She wrapped one arm around him and took the phone because his hand started to shake. Adrien looked away from the camera and wiped his eyes with his sleeve.

"We did what we thought we had to do." Marinette continued. But her look was telling the words she left unspoken. She wanted the questioning to stop.

"You know, I think Alya has enough, she can stop recording now." Nino said after he switched off the recording function.

Adrien was now crying into Marinette's neck and the girl faced the camera away from them, but she did not cut the call just yet.

"Dude, I'll talk to my parents, you can come and live with me until we find some better solution." they heard Nino offer through the speaker on the phone.

"Thank you Nino." Adrien breathed out.

"Just please, call any time, okay?" The boy on the other side offered.

"Okay" Adrien replied weakly.

"And you have Marinette there, dude. Just let her be there for you." Nino continued. Right then it was unimportant who had a crush on whom and who was denying their feelings, it was important to keep his bro sain.

Adrien nodded and a few tears dropped from his eyes because of the movement. But Nino could not see that and Marinette was too taken to speak, but Nino was not even expecting an answer.

"Ye and Ling, her cousins too, they look like fine dudes." Nino continued. "I wish I was there with you dude." He wished he could take that bracelet from Ladybug shout shelter and protect his bro from the world, even Alya, until he got to terms with what happened.

Adrien raised his head and smiled. Marinette looked at him and smiled back. Then he noticed the phone was turned away and he turned it back and smiled to his friends.

"You know, it is okay, it is finished, they do not have the miraculous any more." Adrien choked out, but his smile was genuine.

"What have you done with them?" Alya asked in the background.

Nino sighed, he actually did not want to know.

"They are somewhere, kept safe now, I think." Marinette replied as she looked at Adrien.

"Just jet them be, babe. Stop questioning. You have everything you need on that video from the livestream." Nino interrupted.

Adrien and Marinette looked st the screen gratefully.

Ling and Ye were just in the background watching the exchange.

"Listen, it was a live stream, the police are at your house." Alya continued. It was not questioning, she was giving information, they did not know, her friend did not know, and he sould know, she would have wanted to know if that was her house.

"I don't care." Adrien smirked with teary eyes.

"Officer Raincomprix is heading the investigation." Alya added quickly.

Adrien shrugged, perhaps it was good that it was Sabrina's father, he really did not care.

"Major Bourgeois is coming back from holidays to handle this." Alya continued.

Adrien hitched a breath, that meant Chloe, and that meant she was going to ask questions. And he did not have the energy for her questions. At least he was stuck rather far and he had means to avoid her if she pushed too far.

"I don't care." he finally answered flatly. He did not care what happened to any property there. Perhaps he was slightly concerned with all Ladybug themed items he had stored in his room, but he had the real Ladybug by his side and knew her identity so he decided he did not care about hose either.

"If you want us to do anything over here, just anything, you name it. Okay? " Alya finished with her offer for help.

"Just please handle the media and do not let them reach us, okay?" Marinette replied and Adrien nodded to that. She was probably the best choice at that moment, it was not like he could have used someone from his father's company.

Alya was typing something on her phone.

"Leave her alone Alya, she will tell you your precious details later. It is too early." Nino scolded his girlfriend.

"Don't worry, Alya you will be the first to hear." Marinette assured.

"Hold on in there dude. Do those monks have some ways to help you?" Nino continued as he turned back to his phone.

"Yeah." Adrien finally spoke again.

"They will help us." Marinette replied. She knew they will help them, she knew how much they helped them already. "Listen Nino, we are both hungry and tired, can we call back later?" she asked timidly.

"Of course, it must be getting late there. Just call us when ever you have time." Nino replied, they all said their greetings and cut the call.


	87. Chapter 87 - The Supper

The Supper

As they finished their conversation with Alya and Nino, all four teens stood in the hallway silently. It was Dorje who approached them and warned the teens that they should go and eat something.

Adrien was still distressed, but Marinette pulled him by his hand. He did not feel stable on his feet so he flung his arm over her shoulders and she wrapped her arm around his waist as they slowly walked towards the large dining room. Ye took the boy from the other side and helped him walk.

Their bodies were not in pain any more, but the memory of pain was still very much alive. As they progressed slowly, they expected to wince in pain with each new move, but the pain never hit them, at least not the physical one. The large hallway was fixed now, all the tapestries and the curtains were in the place where they were before the battle.

Ling admired how everything got restored, Ye was surprised, but Marinette and Adrien simply stared at the floor before them, they watched each step they took.

Finally they reached the large dining room and took their position in a short line of students waiting for the food. Adrien felt his thoughts finally focused, he was focused on the emptiness in his belly and the smell of food in the air. His face lit up when he was handed a bowl of noodles.

Marinette took her bowl as she watched him. She smiled when she saw him smile. He was getting better, perhaps a little food was everything they needed at that very moment. They took their places on the carpet and started to eat.

"No rice?" Marinette teased and he smiled to her and then kept smiling at the noodles. He was not aware how hungry he was. The bowl was empty quickly. Marinette barely touched hers while he was already finished. She felt tired while the adrenaline left over from the battle made her stomach felt tied in a knot and would not accept anything inside. She mostly sipped her tea slowly because it was really hot.

"You will get sick if you eat this fast." Ling warned Adrien as she sat down. But Ye simply handed the boy his own bowl of noodles and took the empty one to fetch some more. They were all exhausted from the fight and barely ate anything the whole day.

Adrien took the full bowl with gratitude and simply stared at it. He was not yet completely used to that he was able to eat as much as he wanted, his life used to be so programmed.

"Perhaps you should drink first and then continue?" Ling offered a cup with Tibetan tea and Adrien took it instantly. "Be careful, it's hot!" the girl warned, but Adrien was too fast and burned his tongue. He made a grimace and lowered the cup.

Marinette was watching him carefully the whole time, she was worried about him, about what was going to happen next. She was sitting next to Adrien, side by side and he would lean onto her from time to time.

Ye was back with two more bowls of noodles followed by Dorje and Pema. The monks were as tired as the four teens and held on to their food as if it was their lifeline. The night and the day were full with fighting and with the time travelling they felt as if several days have passed since the last time they ate or slept.

"I thought we will need this one." Ye said as he put the extra bowl of noodles between the four.

"Oh, you can have it." Ling sing sang her reply. She was in a good mood, tired but good. The fight was finished, the evil man was defeated and there was only future to look forward to.

Marinette simply nodded. Both girls felt little appetite and ate simply because they knew they should eat at least something. Marinette worried about Adrien, about his mother, about what happened with his father and Nathalie. Because she expected the next disaster to just hit from around the corner.

Dorje sat next to Adrien, and Pema sat opposite to him. They were intent on watching the two teens and intervene in case they decided help was needed. Adrien was hardly the first person in the history of mankind who had to defeat an evil parent, but he was young and the period after the fight was never easy. So they stayed close and watched. The boy still wielded one of the strongest miraculous there was. For a while they ate in silence and sipped their tea from time to time.

Ye and Ling were glancing towards Adrien, from time to time, with worry written all over their faces. But as soon as the boy being watched raised his eyes towards them, they would pretend they were busy with their food.

Dorje and Pema were holding their bowls and eating slowly, but their attention was completely on the kids, all four of them.

"We might make another tea, the calming tea." Pema said casually to Dorje as if that was a conversation only for the two of them.

Dorje nodded his head as he raised his eyes but said nothing.

But not a minute has passed and someone left six small cups with dark tea.

"Teacher's order." the person said and left before they even saw their face.

"Well, if it is the teacher's order." Ling sing sang again as she distributed the cups.

"You should drink this only after you finish with your food, perhaps you should even wait a little for it to digest." Pema warned as she smelled the tea.

"This is a calming tea?" Ling asked.

Dorje nodded. He did not need to bring the cup to his nose to recognize the smell.

"It is, and they made it a strong one." Pema warned.

Adrien was looking at the cup. How many of these was he supposed to drink to be able to sleep ever again. It was one think to know Hawk Moth was his father. It was something completely different to see him detransform.

He fought his own father, his father held Marinette by her neck. Twice! His father knew it was his son whom he was hitting. His father was assisted by magical powers and Adrien was just a civilian. And yet, his father showed no mercy.

Nathalie was attacking them, civilians, while she was transformed. Adrien wandered how they survived, because the magic enhanced their strength so much that him and Ladybug were able to produce structural damage to the buildings with their weapons while transformed and in the heat of the battle.

Well, it was over. The battle was over and he was too tired to think much further in the future. Perhaps the monks would let him stay with them, but he wanted to stay beside Marinette, and it was probably too much to ask from her to stay with him. Then, there was the training for the guardian of the miraculous.

"I think this is the best meal I ever had." Adrien finally spoke. Everyone raised their eyes and looked at him. It was not much of a meal, except there was no limit in quantity for him. And he had just burned his tongue so it was questionable if he even felt the taste of the food.

Marinette smiled shyly, but when he grinned back she smiled widely and her eyes glowed.

"Do you want some more?" she asked gently.

"No, I am fine, not finished yet, see?" he replied he still had food left.

"What do you usually eat?" Ling asked curiously. But then a shadow crossed Adrien's face, just for a moment and she was sorry she asked him that. When she wanted to apologize and tell him he does not have to answer, Adrien began to speak.

"I don't know, something the dietician working for the Agreste Designs company prescribed. I actually stopped paying attention to that long time ago. I do not remember if I ever cared." Adrien replied. He also did not remember if anyone in the Agreste Mansion ever asked what he wanted to eat. He was simply given food, the amount he was supposed to take, not more, not less. And he was seldom asked if it was good, and that was a mere courtesy, not like he would get more or something else even if he asked, instead he got scolded for not sticking to his regime, so he stopped complaining long time ago.

Dorje and Pema did not react. They were used to the food in the temple. Everyone ate the same thing more or less, a large pot was cooked for everyone and they all ate. Of course, they added some spices if they wanted to change the taste, but they were used to not choosing what they ate.

On the other hand, Marinette stared at the boy while her eyes were becoming wet, rapidly. So this boy never negotiated to eat cookies instead of breakfast, lunch or dinner? He never nagged his mother in the kitchen asking what was for dinner and then exclaimed his disgust with the sprouts or something else? He never sneaked into the kitchen when there was no adult in sight and emptied a bag of candy? He never demanded fries or pizza when asked if he wanted stew or steamed vegetables?

Ye looked at Ling ant they exchanged a few words quietly before they stared at the boy.

"Then this is the best meal indeed." Ling exclaimed.

"Yes, this is fantastic, even better that that food we get in the canteen in my school." Ye smirked, it was obvious he was teasing.

"It totally beats the canteen in my school." Ling smiled back and nodded.

Marinette looked at the bowl. She felt complied to say something.

"Our school too." she added.

Adrien looked at her.

"I'd like to try the food in the canteen in our school one day." The boy said quietly. Pema and Ling both stared at the boy. Then Ling whispered something to Ye and the boy raised his eyes too.

Adrien noticed the questions in their eyes.

"I, um, did not eat there, not approved by the dietitian, you know?" He smirked.

Suddenly both Chinese teens were aware that this boy did not eat food prepared by his parents, like probably never! And they were both saddened. As much as they liked the opportunity to go and eat something outside, something different, something not cooked by their parents (just because they had that each day) they were away from how long enough that they actually missed what their parents cooked at home. And to never have that? That was pure awful.

Again they ate in silence, each wanted to say something, but stopped because it might hurt the boy's feelings.

"I just wanted to say … I am sorry for my father." Adrien finally spoke. He felt the need to say that, to geit it over with, because he felt responsible for his father's actions.

"What?" several voices screamed at once.

"No" Marinette waved her head.

"You have nothing to be sorry for." Pema replied calmly as Dorje nodded.

"And I want to thank you." Tears started welling into his eyes. "Thank you for helping me, thank you for fighting them."

"You're welcome." Ye winked.

"But of course" Marinette smiled and turned to him, her eyes started to get wet, more because she was tired than from the sadness.

"We said we will help you." Ling exclaimed.

"No problem." Ye added.

"Count on us the next time" Ling continued.

And then everyone laughed.

"Seriously, whatever you need, just tell us." Ye smiled, leaned forward and patted the boys shoulder.

There was one questions neither of the three teens wanted to say out loud in front of Adrien. And that was what was going to happen with him?

Marinette was aware that the body of his mother was somewhere in this temple and wondered if that bothered him. But he did not think about that. He was still chased by the memories of the fight.

They finally decided to empty the small tea cups and went to the room where they slept.

The monks urged them to go to their sleeping bags straight away. The tea was supposed to calm them and put them to sleep and nobody wanted to fall sleep somewhere in the cold stones that were the hallway floor. So obediently, the kids went straight to the large room and wrapped themselves in their sleeping bags. But they were still high on adrenaline and none of them was able to fall asleep.

They were laying in the sleeping bags and chatted. Ye and Ling were exchanging stories from their school. Adrien listened, laughed and translated to Marinette (as much as he understood himself because they used a lot of school slang that Adrien's tutors were not tutoring).

It was dark, the other students were mostly asleep and even those who were awake kept silent as the students around them were sleeping. The government official walked around and stared at the four teens in the corner for a while, until she was noticed by the two older teens. Marinette's cousins spoke slower and quieter not to disturb the sleeping colleagues. After a while they were both silent, Adrien just sighed from time to time and Marinette rubbed his back comfortingly. He turned to lay on his back while he pulled her to rest her head on his shoulder. He felt better that way because he knew he was not alone.

Marinette could not fall asleep and she felt Adrien was still awake. But they did not talk. He would move his hands to feel she was still there, although he felt the weight of her head on his shoulder. He rested his arm over her ribs so he would feel her breathing. He needed to know she was there.

"Adrien?" she whispered quietly. He tapped her side where his hand rested in response.

"Shh, it is okay, I can't sleep but you do not have to stay awake because of me." he replied.

"I can't fall asleep too." She spoke quietly.

"Why?" he whispered

"Well, because … the same reason I guess." it was the truth, but she did not want to say it out loud.

"Is it really over?" he sighed into the dark air above him.

"I don't know yet." and that was the best answer she could have given him.

And they stayed like that for a long time, awake with their eyes closed in the dark. And then finally, their bodies relaxed and they have fallen asleep.


	88. Chapter 88 - Emilie

Emilie

The night was calm, quiet and peaceful. And cold. The students huddled close to each other and were grateful that there were so many people sleeping in the same room as they kept each other warm. Ling was woken up because she felt cold and her body shivered. She quickly took more socks and a jacket from her backpack to put on and keep herself warm.

"It is no use, we are so cols because we are too tires." Ye whispered. He showed his arm and revealed the sleeve of his jacket. They shuffled closer in their sleeping bag to try to keep each other warm. Ling looked towards Adrien and Marinette in the darkness.

"Don't worry, they are fine, they are sleeping quietly." Ye whispered with a hint of jealousy in his voice. Not that he was really jealous, more like he wanted to feel as warm as the two young teens did. He was awake for some time already. But the additional jacket and socks did help as they managed to fall asleep again.

It was still dark when Dorje walked in the large room and gently woke up Adrien and Marinette. The monk first looked at them in the darkness for a minute and listened to their calm breathing. He sighed, he was relieved because that meant they did not suffer from nightmares. They were sleeping so peacefully that the monk felt guilty to rise from their sleep. They were watched during the whole night. But the nightmares did not come. That was a good sign. But had to wake them up, he had to do it before everyone else started to open their eyes. This had to be done in secret. When he finally crouched and shook their shoulders it was clear to him that these two kids really had a lot of wight on their shoulders and he was about to put even more.

Adrien opened his eyes to see only darkness. Only after Dorje called his name did the boy understand what woke him up. It already became a habit so he already wandered if that was an akuma, a sentimonster, a whole hoard of them. Then he remembered they have beaten his father and Nathalie and took their miracoulous. Did they escape from the authorities. Was there some other monster roaming around that went unnoticed so far? He stiffened, but the monk instantly said everything was okay, just the elderly teachers wanted to speak to them before everyone wakes up.

Marinette woke up only when she felt Adrien stiffen. She was sleeping the way he held her close, with her head on his shoulder. That meant her face and head were partially covered by the sleeping bag . She instantly rose her head and looked around, but there was only darkness to see. She heard Dorje whispered a few words. She concentrated, hard, as she tried to recognize his words. What was the danger this time? Have Gabriel and Nathalie managed to create more monsters? Where is the danger, what was she supposed to fight this time?

"It is okay, they just want to speak to us." Adrien whispered and patted her shoulder. Her shoulders slumped down as she exhaled the breath she was holding in alarm. That was the good news. Well, she should have expected this. There were too many loose ends left to tie. Marinette felt her kwami stir in her pocket and she saw a pair of green eyes phased back into Adrien's onesie.

They got up quickly and silently in already practised way and followed the large young monk through the narrow corridors. Although it was pitch dark and they did not see where they were going, they simply felt the walls with their hands and their feet already knew the way. They ran or sneaked around the same corridors so many times in the last few days it was the same as if they were going to the toilet in the middle of the night. They followed dorje along the corridors and passages and up the stairs and more corridors through the darkness of the night. But they felt calm and safe the whole way.

Then they reached a small room lit by a single candle. Marinette recognized it as the room where she had her interview with the old lady monk. Dolma was sitting on the same pillow beside the wall. Tenzin was facing something along the opposite wall and Pema was there by his side checking the contents of a cloth bag. The last one looked tired and sleepy, but she attentively helped out the old monk by passing him different objects as he asked for them.

Adrien recognized the body of his mother. Tenzin hovered over her as he was obviously trying to do something with her, he was trying to help her somehow, or to at least estimate the damage. The boy was not sure what was going on, but he trusted the old teacher that whatever he was doing was not going to hurt his mother further. But the sight of his mother overwhelmed him, he did not expect to face her in that time of the night. He was probably taken even more than when he first saw her in Hawk Moth's lair. He stood in the spot and stared in the direction of her face with no expression on his face. He looked frozen in time.

Marinette nodded to the old woman in greeting and she nodded back. Then the girl turned towards the others and saw what was going on. She instinctively touched Adrien's hand and offered her support, but the boy was unresponsive. Pema noticed the move, looked at Marinette and nodded approvingly. Marinette was not sure if she should od it, if she should just go for Adrien's hand without his explicit approval. In the end it was Plagg who hovered over to their hands and connected them with considerable help from Tikki. Both kwami were silent and looked at the Emilie's body with concern.

"You can come closer if you want, but please do not touch anything." Tenzin spoke and Pema motioned with her hand for the two teens to come closer. Both teens took few tentative steps towards Tenzin as if they were careful not to disturb the air they moved through. The single candle did not provide too much light, but they were able to recognize her features as well as her clothes.

"Is she?" Adrien asked barely above a breath. He motioned with his hand towards the body of his mother. He let the expression on his face finish the question as he trailed off.

"She is not alive." Tenzin spoke calmly. "But, she is not dead as normal people are, at least not yet." The old teacher did not reveal any negativity in his statement, he was trying to keep the boy calm and composed, but the monk was also not the on who would lie about such situation just to make someone feel better. There was no fear of akumatization so they decided to expose the boy to the truth as soon as possible. Not that the monks were completely certain what the truth was.

"She is … " Pema started speaking tentatively and looked at the old teacher waiting for his approval, the old teacher nodded so she continued as she watched Adrien carefully. "You know when the bodies of certain people are preserved after they die and that is considered as a divine miracle?" She whispered slowly.

Adrien's eyes went wide, that was very strange to hear. Marinette stared and nodded. Both teens heard of such events, and these were mostly treated as mere stories or folk's tales and many religions based their saints or divine creatures on such legends. But to have such an example just before their eyes, and it was the body of Adrien's mother, and they were just explained that this was one such case. That was just overwhelming.

"Well, her body is preserved, that is probably why your father wanted to bring her back." Pema continued. And one look at her body made it seem possible. Because she looked as if she was sleeping. She even did not look ill. Her skin was pale, but her cheeks were normal, there were no black circles around her eyes. Her hair was so perfectly done and in a way she wore it so often. Her suit was a perfect fit and from the most recent Agreste line. Adrien felt a bit sick in his stomach, did his father keep her appearance that way? He had to. Everything was an appearance.

"Can she be brought back?" Adrien asked hopefully and instantly felt guilt about what he asked for. It was what his father wanted, it was the reason he turned into a villain, it was a reason for so much suffering of so many people. It somehow made it feel wrong to ask for his mother back.

"Not right now, not for sure." Tenzin replied calmly. "But she can't exactly die either." The old teacher understood the boy before him. Of course the boy wanted his mother back, he was still a child.

"But we don't have to." Adrien added quickly because of the feeling of guilt that washed over him. Gabriel did stress that he was doing all that for Adrien although nobody bothered to ask the boy if that was something he really wanted. So Adrien wanted to stress the difference. "I mean, nobody should suffer for her to return."

"Her life is tied to the sentimonster she created." Dolma spoke coldly from behind their backs.

Adrien felt cold sweat and shivers down his spine. Did he really want his mother back? He remembered how he never went to public school while she was around. Would she let him continue going to the public school?

"Um, I feel as if I never really knew her." Adrien spoke quietly. "She created a sentimonster. I did not go to school. Perhaps I idolized her." he finished with barely a whisper, but he spoke the words anyway. But then a different pang of guilt struck him, was he allowed to wish her not to come back just because he wanted to keep his freedoms, because he wanted to go to school, because he wanted a normal life and he was scared he would not have that again with his mother around.

"She wielded a miraculous she was not chosen to." Adrien spoke quietly and looked at Tenzin.

"But she found it, it was her who found both of the miraculous and the book. Perhaps she was supposed to find them?" Marinette asked quietly. She knew that Nooroo and Duusu should know the answers but decided to wait with pursuing that option.

"Are we supposed to fight Felix?" Marinette whispered the words out loud. Because she was not sure if he was indeed a monster that should be removed. What if Emilie was supposed to make him?

Tenzin looked at the girl and read all the emotions that washed over her eyes and face and finally nodded.

Pema just looked at the girl with her eyes full of something that might be mistaken for pity, but it was mixed with admiration and kindness.

"Yes, you are." Dolma answered solemnly after Pema translated the question.

Marinette lowered her gaze to her feet. So it was decided then, that Emilie was not a chosen wielder ad the girl wanted her to be.

Adrien took a shaky breath. The boy considered Felix was his cousin. He had his flaws, he was not a nice person, but in the absence of a brother, Felix was the closest to a sibling that Adrien ever had (save for perhaps Chloe). It was difficult to think of his cousin as a sentimonster. As something he was expected to fight and defeat and essentially remove from existence. Besides, what about his aunt Amelie? She obviously loved Felix as her own son. Her only child. It was monstrous to even think about depriving the woman from her child, even if Felix was not a real child.

"We can't" Marinette replied quietly as she watched all the emotions that washed over Adrien's face. It was strange to see so many emotions on his face because he completely abandoned his model posture and the absence of showing his emotions and various facial expressions.

"Do we have to?" She whispered next. Because the sense of duty drove her further. Because if Felix was a sentimonster, then he should be fought and won, right? But they usually fought the sentimonsters that were causing damage, hurting people and going after their miraculous. Felix was different. Felix was like a person. Amelie saw him as her son. Just like Max saw Markov as his friend.

"What if Emilie was supposed to do that, what if Dusuu suggested for her to do that?" Marinette tried desperately to find some explanation, some excuse not to force Adrien to destroy someone he considered his cousin and produce more sadness to his aunt.

Plagg was sitting on Adrien's shoulder and kept quiet.

Tikki hovered over Emilie's body.

It was as if nobody wanted to cackle the subject. And the girl did not understand why.

"Her energy is tied and transferred to the sentimonster she created." Tenzin spoke quietly. "Once the sentimonster stops draining her energy, she could start to recover." the old teacher whispered.

Adrien hitched a breath. That was even worse. Now he felt forced to chose between his mother and his cousin. Because he still saw Felix as his cousin, as alive and breathing being with emotions and a family and a mother who loved him. But, Marinette was more focused on the problem before her. She was supposed to find an infected object and release the amok.

"We could find the object that holds the amok and decide if it is evil or not?" she proposed tentatively and Tenzin nodded his head.

"I am not able to sense the object that is hosting amok." Tikki chirped quietly.

Tenzin added one more colourful stone to the small pile on the body of the woman.

"It is not on her body." Tenzin replied quietly as he spread his arms over her body. He hummed a slow melody for a minute while everyone watched silently.

"He said something about the rings." Adrien whispered once Tenzin stopped humming.

"So it must be the object where the amok is." Marinette added absent mindedly. She was still unsure about the whole thing. Were they really going to do this.

Adrien looked down at his mother's body.

"Is she going to come back if we destroy Felix?" Adrien asked quietly. He wanted to make sure he was doing the right thing, and what the right thing really was, and what to expect, there were too many unknowns.

Tenzin raised his head and looked at the boy. He studied Adrien's features, the expression on his face, the relaxed arms and open hands. Finally, as if satisfied with what he saw, the old teacher turned back to Emilie and sighed.

"That is not the question to be asked. She is going to be free from the bond with the sentimonster." Tenzin spoke quietly.

"There is no way of telling what is going to happen to her once the sentimonster is destroyed." Pema added.

"So we should fight Felix and defeat him only to … " That sounded crazy to Adrien.

"He is a sentimonster." Dolma replied flatly. She knew, one had to do what one had to do. "He is a creature created from someone's emotions, probably the negative emotions." The old guardian knew there were slim chances that the emotions used to create the copy were positive.

"She probably used the sorrow and despair her sister felt upon loosing her child to create your cousin." Dolma continued solemnly, she watched the boy and sighed. "She might have used her own positive emotions when she got you, but then the object holding the amok should be on her body." the old guardian added more for the sake of the argument, it was clear from the tone of her voice she did not believe that was the case.

"But he is my cousin." Adrien argued. But the same moment he pronounced those words he understood. Felix was not his cousin, he was a sentimonster created by his mother.

"Aunt Amelie, she loves him so much. I used to be jealous for him. I used to be jealous that he had a mother and she did not become distant when uncle died." Adrien rambled further about his aunt and uncle and Felix, but he refused to call Felix a sentimonster in his whole speech.

"If he is not hurting anyone, can we keep him?" Adrien continued. "We will hurt aunt Amelie if we destroy him."

"He hurt you Adrien." Marinette reminded him. "And he hurt your friends."

"He hurt you." the boy replied. Suddenly it started to make sense. "He is hurting people." And then he sunk deep into his thoughts. "But he was not like that, not as far as I can remember. He was always a master of pranks, but it was a joke, it was not intended to be hurtful. Of course, my father was angry when we tricked him. But that was just a joke."

And he had so much fun with Felix whenever he came. Because the lonely boy, that Adrien was, was happy to have any company his own age, and that included friends like Chloe and cousins like Felix.


	89. Chapter 89 - Nooroo and Duusu

Nooroo and Duusu

In order to find out what happened to Emilie, Marinette is determined to talk to Nooroo and Duusu. Meanwhile, Adrien felt torn between the fact that Felix was a sentimonster that he refused to acknowledge and a possibility to bring his mother back if he fought and destroyed Felix.

"We should talk to Duusu first." Marinette insisted. She knew that Adrien suffered from guilt his father imposed on the boy for his own actions. And to add this terrible choice upon him was plain awful.

Adrien sighed and looked towards the body of his mother again. Everything was so much simpler while he thought she was missing and never coming back. And Felix was just his cousin.

"It is not our choice, Adrien. We have to do what we have to do. But, lets check the facts first." she insisted. She did not want to introduce false hope either, although she was tempted to tell him all sorts of words just to see the boy smile again. But that was not a solution, she should not tell him nice lies just because he wanted to hear them.

Adrien sighed. Yes, they were heroes and it was their job to fight monsters. He just fought his father yesterday.

Dolma opened her hands and showed she was holding the pin of the butterfly miracoulous in one hand and the brooch of the peacock miracoulous in the other.

"The kwami, are they okay?" Marinette asked worriedly as she glanced between the jewellery and the face of the old monk. It was obvious something was wrong.

Dolma waved her head. Her eyes looked sad, very sad. She just stared at the two jewels.

"They were transformed in the temple." Dolma stated simply. Her eyes did not move from the two jewels. Pema got closer to translate.

"That took their energy?" Marinette asked. A pang of guilt nagged from the back of her head. Was she too slow to resolve the fight? If she was faster, then the two kwami would have kept more energy.

Dolma nodded slowly, her eyes never left the jewels in her hands. She was already grieving for the two kwami. She did not know for sure if they were gone completely, but she did not expect to see them active during her lifetime.

"She thinks they are gone." Pema whispered gently. The young monk got even closer and studied the two miraculous jewels as if she expected the two kwami to appear miraculously or some definite sign of their absence.

Tikki was crying quietly perched up on Marinette's shoulder.

Plagg made sad eyes and sniffled while he hovered high to be able to see the two jewels and stay close to Adrien at the same time.

Adrien looked at Plagg and knew things were serious. He was confused by his own feelings and the absence of the two kwami only began to ring an alarm in his head.

"If I ..." Marinette looked at Dolma tentatively. "If we put the jewels in the miracle box." Marinette continued as she corrected herself. "Tikki, Plagg, can you go into your magical box and check on them just like you did when you were celebrating those cycles of Nooroo, something like his birthday?"

Tikki turned to Marinette and looked at the girl with tired eyes. Perhaps the old goddess was not in the mood to face the reality of the fate of two of her friends. But then she dug into her ever cheerful personality and hope for the best, but not too much, because she might get disappointed.

"That is good idea, Pigtails." Plagg spoke in hoarse voice as he floated over to the girl. Suddenly, the old god of destruction was the one hoping for a bit of luck, or a miracle, whatever, as long as the two kwami could be revived.

Dolma extended her hands that held the miraculous jewels and said nothing, but the look she gave first to Marinette and then to Pema spoke volumes. She had given up hope, but she was ready to let the others hope for the best and try, she was not about to scold them nor tell them to just give up because that was the easy way Pema brought the box closer and looked at Marinette.

"Would you open it, please?" Pema asked. It became clear to Marinette that they did not find the way to break her code and open the box and the girl felt some pride.

Marinette opened the box and turned it around towards Dolma. She pointed her index fingers to the spots where the pin of the butterfly and the peacock brooch should be. Dolma carefully laid both jewels in the designated spots and looked at them gently. Marinette smiled back slightly and looked at the old lady waiting for her approval. Dolma nodded and Marinette 0closed the box.

"Now you just phase inside?" Marinette turned her head to the side where Tikki sat on her shoulder and asked curiously. She did not see how the kwami entered the box during the Sandboy, she just knew what happened from what Tikki described to her later.

Tikki nodded in return and the girl could only notice the move from the corner of her eyes. Then Tikki floated up and towards the box.

"Wait, bring them some food." Marinette remembered how the kwami always felt stronger after they ate. She was not sure if that would help this time, but it would not hurt either.

Pema quickly produced two small parcels of food from a small storage box on the side. The young monk was excited and eager to help, she truly believed something could be done. Dorje approached closer and hovered above everyone curious what was going to happen next. Tikki took one, but Plagg turned around floated over to Adrien where he hovered in front of the boy's face.

"Don't you think I would be much stronger to face what happened to poor Nooroo and Duusu in there if I got some cheese?" the little black cat like god of destruction drawled.

Adrien rolled his eyes. He even smirked at the antics of his kwami.

"I can't believe you." the boy sighed and smiled as he produced one more piece of cheese. "Is there ever an occasion when you are not hungry?" He waved his head and watched Plagg devour the small piece of cheese. But there was seriousness and sadness in the eyes of the little black cat like god of destruction that made Adrien stop his teasing.

Marinette could not believe her eyes. Plagg looked as if he was about to burry his best friend and still annihilated cheese. And there was no fight in sight, actually they had a prospect of rather boring duties with no fighting villains for some time. At least, the girl hoped so.

"We will have to visit the village in the morning." Adrien added. "The cheese is close to gone." But he said that without the teasing in his tone, the only reason he pronounced those words out loud were to lift up the mood from obviously gloomy outcome that most of the persons and kwami expected.

"Oh no, that might cause an apocalypse." Plagg exclaimed dramatically. "We should definitely go." The black kwami took the hint. And teasing was something he rather enjoyed.

"Plagg, you are safer when you are hungry." Tenzin teased back. He knew rather well that the two kwami were not well, it was him who made them do the last task of wiping the memories of their previous owners.

Marinette offered Tikki a cookie but the little kwami waved her head in response.

"I do not need any food right now. We will probably not stay long." Tikki replied quietly.

"Aren't you the positive one, Sugarcube?" Plagg teased. "I am supposed to be the negative one over here."

Tikki waved her head once more and floated over to the box. There she found a spot where she phased inside and Plagg followed.

"What now?" Adrien asked curious what is going on inside.

"Nothing, we wait for them to come out. They should create their magical world inside." Marinette explained slowly. Pema nodded to confirm what was said.

Adrien felt a bit nervous without Plagg around.

"Can we call them and ask them to come out?" The boy looked at Marinette, his eyes revealed how he felt. And she saw how nervous he was.

"Nope, there is no way to contact them while they are in their magical world." the girl waved her head. She did not know what was going on inside nor how long it would take.

"So we just sit here and wait." Adrien asked incredulously.

Marinette nodded.

"How log is that going to take?" Of course he had to ask that question.

Marinette sighed. She did not know, and she hated having plans where she was not aware of all the facts. But then she took in the boy's posture and remembered how he tried to make everyone feel better by exchanging banter with Plagg.

"It would probably take shorter if Plagg has not taken some food for himself inside." Marinette teased back.

Adrien raised his eyebrows and laughed shortly. Marinette felt guilty for throwing something like that at him, but his better mood reassured her that she did the right thing.

Everyone around laughed at her antics and she felt a little bit better.

Tikki and Plagg phased out from the box. That was much faster than either human expected them to be back. And that was probably not good news.

Tikki looked at Marinette with sad eyes and just blinked a few times. The little red goddess looked as if she was about to cry.

Plagg floated over to Adrien but looked down.

"They destroyed two kwami?" the boy said incredulously.

"But they are supposed to be gods." Marinette protested.

"You can do that to a god, haven't you read the Greek mythology?" Adrien stared at the girl.

"Actually … " Tikki wanted to correct the boy but Marinette cut her off.

"No, those were human like gods, the kwami, they are the real gods!" The girl argued.

"Actually … " Plagg started to speak again and exchanged a few frantic looks with Tikki.

"Their previous masters have drained them too much." Tenzin started to speak. "The kwami will give you the energy even if they have very little for themselves. You feel no pain but also no hunger while transformed. And they used their powers multiple times. If they have not detransformed, nor eaten, nor rested, nor fed their kwami, then they used up all their energy." Tenzin explained.

"The temple reduces their energy. It drains them." Dorje warned.

"But still, we fought them while we were civilians." Adrien spoke "And actually won."

"That would be impossible while we were in Paris, remember? I mean even if we outnumbered them." Marinette reminded him.

"That was only possible because they have almost drained their kwami." Tenzin spoke.

Marinette felt her eyes started to well up with tears out of sadness for the two kwami.

"And you made them remove the memories of their masters after the fight was finished." Marinette cried towards the old teacher.

The old teacher looked at her with the gentle eyes and stroked his beard. It was obvious he did not mind that Marinette scolded him. In fact, he might have been pleased to hear her speak like that.

"That probably drained them further." Dolma added coldly. She flicked her eyes towards the old teacher.

"That was the only way to deal with them." Tenzin spoke calmly. "We cant release them with the memories of wielding a miraculous and all the secrets of the miracoulous."

"You are the one who is always taking risks." Dolma reminded him calmly. But her eyes were on fire. Because this time, Tenzin took the risk with the two kwami while he made the safest solution for the two humans who were using them.

"But they still have the book." Adrien warned. He was worried if the memory loss was able to make his father a better man, he was able to hope, but just that.

"And they probably have copies of it in electronic form." Marinette added. She was not feeling so certain that the memory loss was sufficient for them all to relax so completely. Pema suddenly understood where the kids worries were coming from and she hitched a breath while she translated.

"They should have no memory of its meaning. They should not understand anything from it." Tenzin replied calmly. There was not much else he could have done.

"But why Nooroo and Duusu? Could some other kwami do that?" Adrien inquired as he looked at Marinette and the old monk.

"It had to be them. It had to be the same kwami they wielded. I think." Marinette concluded with a trace of insecurity in the end.

"Well, yes, either that or I would have to create a memory swiping akuma." Tenzin spoke quietly, he looked as if he was speaking to himself.

"But then I would launch miraculous Ladybug and they would remember again." Marinette implied. Of course, the kwami were the only way, probably.

"There are ways around your magic in this temple." Tenzin smiled and stroked one stone that was still on Emilie's forehead.

"Yes, she did not return to the Agreste mansion back then." Adrien looked at Tenzin curiously.

"There was no way for her to wake up in that room and in that glass coffin." the old teacher spoke slowly and calmly. "That room was full of negative energy and negative emotions."

"Yes, but how have you kept her here?" Marinette inquired.

"There are other magical stones, they are not as magical as your own, but here are stones that can prevent her from being returned, just like you are still in the position where you launched your miraculous Ladybug cure and not in the position where you have been when the attacks started."

"Oh." Marinette whispered. "Of course."

"Yes." the teacher nodded.

"These stones simply help me channel the energy, nothing more." Tenzin smiled.

"Master Fu, he hummed and played an instrument for Tikki when she was ill." Marinette bubbled up as she remembered. "Perhaps we could try something like that?"

Tenzin waved his head.

"That helped Tikki to channel her energy and fight the illness, it would not be advisable to do that now." Dolma replied.

Pema sighed as she was translating.

"You know how you sometimes enter the room and can instantly feel if the energy between the people there is good or bad?" Pema asked enthusiastically.

Marinette shrugged, she did not feel that confident to instantly asses the situation between people correctly each time.

"I know what you mean." Adrien chirped in.

"Oh, don't say?" Plagg teased.

"Well I do not detect all the feelings." the boy started to excuse himself.

"Mister I would recognize her the moment I see her." Plagg teased further.

Adrien groaned.

Marinette laughed.

The others looked at each other and wandered where that particular conversation was going.

"Marinette, I always felt you have the same amount of energy as Ladybug, if not more." Adrien smiled gently as he spoke and looked at the girl.

She blushed and looked down.

"He is right, Pigtails." Plagg added.

"You can do it Marinette." Tikki chirped.

"What are you saying?" Marinette asked as she looked at them questioningly. But the idea of what they wanted from her was as clear as the day.

The sky outside was becoming lighter and it was obvious the Sun was soon going to raise above the mountain range in the east.

Marinette sat down, took the miracle box and opened it. She took the pin and the brooch, one in each hand.

"Perhaps you should do that one by one." Tikki warned.

"Yes Pigtails. One by one." Plagg cut in.

But Marinette held the two miraculous in her hands and stroked them gently. She felt compassion towards the two tired kwami. He wished that some of her energy would transfer to them, at least sufficient so they could come abut and eat something, to regain their strength in a different way, and not from her.

"She is not an adult yet." Dolma warned Tenzin sternly.

"You are still on a timer, Marinette." Pema smiled gently as she extended her arms and put one of her hands to the girls shoulder while she held her wrist with the other.

Adrien approached closer and from her back, he got down on his knees just behind her and then sat on his feet.

"Perhaps you should listen to them, Bug?" he whispered to her ear as he watched the two miraculous jewels in her hands.

First a violet kwami started to appear from the brooch, once he squeezed out, he lay motionlessly on the palm of Marinette's hand next to the pin. Dorje quickly took one small piece of food for the kwami and squeezed it into its mouth, but nothing happened.

Then a blue kwami started to emerge from the brooch. It just surfaced from the brooch and remained lying there. Dorje put another piece of food onto the kwami hoping it would eat.

Adrien was holding Marinette. She was slumped against his body, her eyes were closed. The boy took her hand and lowered it to her knee. Pema lowered her other hand. Adrien held the girl then with both his arms. Because Marinette's head dropped. She was unconscious.


	90. Chapter 90 - Back To Life

Back to life

Marinette lost consciousness while she was holding the peacock brooch and the butterfly pin as she brought the two kwami back. But the two kwami simply slept on the palms of her hands. All three were in similar condition, and with Emilie lifeless body laid down along the side wall of the small room, the level of alarm in everybody present was quite high.

Tikki floated over to Marinette and looked at the girl's face. Her blue eyes were full of concern, then she stared at Adrien.

"She is unconscious." Tikki scolded in her high pitch voice. Her eyes were expectant, she wanted the boy to fix this.

Adrien furrowed his brows. He understood and he wanted to fix this, he just didn't know how.

"Oh no, what do I do?" he whispered to Tikki. He would do literally anything. She scarified herself to find out what happened to his mother. That was just too much to bear. He was having none of that. If only he guessed her intentions, if he knew the consequences, even if this was a mere possibility, he would have said no, he would never accept for her to take such risk.

"Take the jewels and the kwami from her." Plagg instructed quietly from his position on Adrien's shoulder. So Adrien sat himself behind Marinette and let her head rest on his chest, then he sneaked both hands into hers and picked up both jewels and the kwami. He felt their wight against his palms and breathed slowly.

"Are you okay kid?" Plagg asked with concern in his voice. Adrien nodded back.

"I just feel tired from all of this." the boy breathed out and stared at the two kwami.

"Is she going to be okay?" Adrien asked Tikki who still hovered in front of Marinette's face.

"She was too tired for this too." Tikki chirped, but in far less jolly way she usually spoke. "But she should recover, soon, I think." the little red kwami continued to speak as she examined her chosen. "Don't worry Adrien, everything will be okay." The goddess spoke as she finally examined the boy's face. She sat on top of the girl's head and watched over Adrien.

Adrien focused on the girl he held more than on the two kwami. He wanted her back so much, he could wait to discover what happened to his mother, the only reason why he wanted the two kwami back was the sadness he saw in Plagg and Tikki when they realised the two kwami might be lost. Marinette was breathing peacefully as if she was sleeping and that made Adrien relax slightly. Pema looked at the both of them with worried eyes. Adrien looked at the young monk with raised eyebrows and she smiled back. Marinette shifted slightly in her sleep and Adrien smiled to her hair. She probably needed just a little time to rest.

"Okay, what do I do now?" Adrien whispered to both kwami and the monks. "She made them appear, how do I make them feel better?" He was ready to listen any piece of advice anyone present would offer him.

Tikki floated over to Marinette and snuggled into the girls neck. The kwami of creation was obviously focused on helping her own chosen. "She is just sleeping." The little kwami muttered quietly as if she was talking to herself and helping herself feel better. "She will wake up soon, after she gets some rest."

"Just wish them better or something, I don't know, I am a kwami. I am not supposed to know that stuff." Plagg could not hide his concern while he feigned annoyance. Because he was worried, about Adrien, about Pigtails, about how far these kids were willing to go to help others. It was just too much if anyone bothered to ask the old god of destruction for his opinion.

"You are doing just fine Adrien." Pema whispered softly. The young monk smiled gently, but her arms held them both upright with all her strength. Dorje was there and helping in any physical way he could. Then Pema settled both teens to lean into her young colleague and fetched two small stones that she put next to the two kwami. She considered two metal plates, similar to those that Master Fu used when he was healing Tikki, but Tenzin waved his head when she looked at him. Then she simply put her hands over Adriens's palms and hummed a gentle melody.

Somewhere in the background, Dolma huffed and exasperated sigh. Of course she knew how to transfer her own energy to the kwami, probably much more efficiently than the girl before her. But it was not as if the elderly guardian had so much energy to spare. And she knew how much energy was needed, and she knew she did not have that much. Marinette obviously did not have the energy either, she should have prepared for that event, for weeks, she should have rested and built up her strength in the process and only then she was supposed to try to bring a kwami back. A kwami, one kwami at a time, not both, not after she was fighting one of the mightiest villains for days. She was much more in favour to the endless waiting and leaving the healing part to the other kwami. It was not good if the guardian became exhausted, what was the use if she pushed herself so far that she was to become unconscious just like Marinette did. That kind of effort was dangerous, she considered it a bad choice.

Tenzin, on the other hand, stroked his beard and looked approvingly at what the girl was doing. He admired her strength and determination. The old monk even smiled at the boy openly as the boy took the kwami and held the girl. He nodded, Fu had really earned his title as master if he chose those two kids so well. (But he knew whom to chose because he saw them as a boy). Besides, he understood why Marinette wanted to accelerate the healing of the two kwami, she wanted to know what happened with Emilie, and Duusu was currently the best clue they could have. He could not hide, he wanted to know too, because he was curious and because he wanted to know if he could fix this and if there was anything to fix.

Adrien felt more tired by each breath he took. Dorje moved and crouched behind the boy's back to support him. The large monk used his hands to support his back and later even got onto his knees and let the boy rest on his body.

Pema stayed there and watched, she hummed a short melody from time to time. Marinette was breathing steadily and the monk was sure the girl would wake up soon on her own. Adrien was sinking, but that was what she expected if he was doing the job right.

Soon the two kwami stirred in their sleep and Pema offered the food again. They first chewed the pieces they found in their mouths and only opened their eyes after they swallowed.

Nooroo took the first bite of the food with half opened eyes. He chewed slowly, taking a break every few moments, his eyes were half opened and he did not even try to sit upright. Plagg hovered over to the two kwami excitedly, but then he returned to his chosen and watched the boy as his eyes were drooping.

"Stay with us kid. Your job is done." Plagg encouraged Adrien to stay awake. But he was getting so tired, every part of his body felt so heavy. And he let his body sing down further. Marinette was pressing on his lungs from the front and it was hard to take deeper breaths. Pema used her hadns to hold the girl away from him, but he winced when he lost touch with her and whined instinctively, the boy was not in control of his own reactions any more. So Pema let them be close.

Duusu looked at the faces of the people surrounding her first and left the food untouched, but the expression on the kwami's face was blank, there was no recognition, there was nobody she associated as a master here. One person held her, another was sleeping, the third was feeding the kwami while the fourth was supporting them all. It was completely different to what the kwami was used to. One master, perhaps another wielder, and that was that.

Then Duusu finally settled to accept the situation and inquire later. She took more food and Nooroo started to study the faces of the people around him. Plagg hovered over to the two kwami and nodded his head in silent greeting before he returned back to snuggle into Adrien's hair. Tikki simply blinked happily at the two awoken kwami before she turned back to the neck of her chosen. "I knew you had it in you, Marinette." The little red goddess whispered.

Marinette stirred slightly and then opened her eyes. She first saw the two kwami who stared back at her. Then she felt Tikki patted her neck. It tickled her a little and she smiled. She noticed that the two kwami before her were held by someone else's hands, bigger than hers. She raised her eyes and saw Pema, but those were not her hands either. Then Plagg hovered in front of her face.

"Good morning Pigtails." Plagg greeted and the Sun decided to peek above the mountains at that very moment as if to support the words of the black cat like god of destruction. He knew how to make an entrance, one had to admit that. Marinette smiled tiredly.

"Feeling better, Marinette?" Tikki chirped as she floated next to Plagg.

"Just a little tired, that's all." the girl replied in a hoarse voice. "How long was I out of it?" She asked sleepily. But her brain was waking up slowly, she looked at Duusu and Nooroo, the hands that held the two kwami were not her own nor Pema's. Then she discovered that the pillow behind her was breathing and turned her head up. She found Adrien's face and he had a small smile. He looked at the two kwami and her.

"Everyone is awake now, but I feel really tired." The boy spoke. Marinette's eyes went wide as she examined her surroundings. Dolma's face wore a frown, it was really concern for the two kids, but Marinette felt she disproved what the girl did and that only proven to the old monk that the girl was not a good guardian.

"That is fine." Tenzin replied gently. "The kwami drained your energy to return to us."

Plagg snuggled closer to Adrien while Tikki went back to Marinette.

"Thank you Marinette." the little red goddess nuzzled her cheek and floated over to Adrien.

"Thank you kid." Plagg smiled widely to the boy before he floated over to Marinette.

"Thank you Adrien." Tikki nuzzled his cheek and Adrien smiled at the little kwami. She was so cute.

"You did good, Pigtails." Plagg grinned at the girl.

"You did well, indeed." Pema passed the message everyone in the room felt.

"Are they out new chosen?" Duusu asked while she sat tat the palm of Adrien's hand. She did not have the energy to hover yet.

"No." Plagg replied a bit harshly. "He is mine." The little black kwami pointed at Adrien.

"They are Ladybug and Chat Noir." Tikki chirped.

Both Nooroo and Duusu sank visibly, these two kids were fighting their former wielders. They used to be enemies, and now this girl and the boy brought them back after their former wielders drained all their energy.

"Thank you for bringing me back." Duusu spoke quietly as the kwami bowed her head slightly. It was obvious that move was already a lot for her.

"Thank you." Nooroo spoke more ceremoniously, but his gaze was low. He looked ashamed of the deeds committed by his previous wielder.

"You are welcome." Marinette patted the kwami's head.

"We are both glad you are back." Adrien smiled.

Both Nooroo and Duusu raised their heads slowly and looked at the two kids. Tend they both understood that these two kids did not blame the two kwami for what their wielders did.

"Are you okay?" Marinette asked with concern but also anxious to ask questions that bothered her, actually all the people in that room.

"They are barely awake." Dolma answered in the place of the two kwami.

"It is going to be a long time before they can be used to give someone powers, Marinette." Tenzin warned.

"They are in much worse condition than I was when I was ill." Tikki warned.

"We are okay." Duusu answered gratefully because she was brought back from that low energy level she might have never escaped.

"We want to ask you a few questions." Marinette tentatively approached the issue.

"Of course, at your service … master." Duusu looked at Marinette confused before he turned towards Adrien and bowed.

"It is about my mother, Emilie Agreste. We want to know if she was chosen to find you." Adrien asked with a polite smile.

"She was never chosen to wield the peacock miraculous." Duusu answered first. "I was not able to chose a wielder, the miraculous that hosts me was damaged."

"I have chosen her. She was supposed to wield the butterfly miraculous and find the master in the process." Nooroo explained quietly. "I wanted her to return us to him. The master was supposed to fix the broken miraculous and take care of us."

Everyone present nodded in response. Everything they heard so far made sense, it was logical thing to do. Of course what kwami wanted and what they got were two different things.

"There was also the book with instruction how to do that." Duusu added. "Not that we know what is written inside."

"They wanted us to interpret the inscriptions for them, but we did not." Nooroo cut in.

"We did not know how." Duusu lowered her gaze again ashamed that they even tried.

They were not judged, the people around knew they were forced by their masters.

Marinette smiled again.

"But she wielded the peacock miraculous." Adrien pushed further. "What did she do with it? Why is she like that?" The boy moved his hands so the two kwami could see his mother. Tenzin moved aside and motioned towards the motionless body. Adrien did not turn his head to see for himself. He concentrated on the two kwami.

"She created the sentimonster while the miraculous was broken, she can't be helped." Duusu added as he looked at the floor. "Her energy leaked."

"Then she used the miraculous she was not chosen for." Marinette concluded. "They both simply chose the one they preferred and used it for whatever they wanted."

"My mistress was nice." Duusu defended.

"That is abusing the miraculous." Marinette scolded. She knew that once you abuse your powers, there was some kind of punishment awaiting you.

Adrien remembered how he took the snake miraculous and failed as Aspik. He understood the logic back then. He was not meant to wield it.

"Remember Aspik?" the boy whispered to Marinette.

"Of course." Her eyes went wide.

"Why have you given it to me?" Adrien asked quietly.

"Because I had a crush on you and wanted you to have it." Marinette admitted as her face flushed.

"Not because you believed it was meant for me." the boy added.

Marinette nodded her head and looked down in shame.

"Look, we both made an error in judgement back then." Adrien tried to make her feel better.

"But it was you who got to your senses first." Marinette replied as she looked back into his eyes.

"Of course, but you forget how much more time I had to think about it." Adrien winked. Although that undefined time that he spent as Aspik definitely did not feel as a joke, he felt the need to turn it into one.

Marinette nodded as she understood and then squeezed her lips into a tight line.

"I wish you suffered less from my own stupidity." she finally spoke after a few breaths.

Then both teens fell silent. Maybe Emilie was 'suffering because of her own stupidity' or someone else's. Perhaps that was the way the things had to be.

"Have you defeated the sentimonster she created?" Duusu asked.

"No, not yet." Marinette answered as she felt Adrien stiffened when he heard the question.

"We should let the kwami get back in the miracle box for now." Tenzin cut in. "You two need your rest too." the old teacher looked at the two teens, and both of them could only agree.


	91. Chapter 91 -The Commisair Wishes to Know

The Commissar wishes to know

Adrien and Marinette got back to the large sleeping room so tired they fell asleep before any of them remembered to zip up their sleeping bag. It was Ling who found the two kids huddled together for warmth. She first took a picture (of course) and then woke up Ye to help her zip up the sleeping bag. When they finally managed to do that they turned around and faced the government guide who stood there with her head high, her shoulders squared and her arms crossed before her chest.

"Nice job, you two." the guide said after she wished them good morning with a raised eyebrow. "Have they slept like that all night?" She inquired further.

"Um, I don't know?" Ling answered reluctantly.

"I don't have a clue, she woke me up to help her." Ye jawed in the middle of his answer.

The guide huffed as she looked at the two teens. Then she approached closer and touched the foreheads on the two sleeping teens.

"They seem okay, no hypothermia and no fever yet. We'll see." She turned around to walk away and made a few steps before she stopped abruptly and looked at Ling again. "Please let me know when they wake up."

Ling and Ye looked at each other and nodded.

Then the guide looked at them once more and put her hands on her hips. She changed her mind again.

"And I might talk to you first." The lady spoke with a smug grin on her face.

Both students nodded and followed the guide to a small side room.

"Can you tell me what happened yesterday?" The guide asked as she put a recorder on and started to make notes with a pen on paper.

"Um, there was this villain." Ye started.

"Actually it was two of them." Ling cut in.

"Yes, they were two." The guide looked at them questioningly.

"They produced all those monsters in the last few days." Ye spoke slowly and waited for the guide to write down the notes.

"How do you know that?" The guide asked further.

"We talked to Alya, she runs the Ladyblog … " Ling spoke enthusiastically about the akuma and sentimonsters and Ladybug and Chat Noir. It was difficult to interrupt her or even direct her speech.

When she was finished, the guide already switched off the recorder as she rolled her eyes.

"Okay, I believe you." the guide confirmed.

"There are photos all over the internet, all the students took photos." Ye nodded as he spoke. "You can put that down, we did not go nuts."

"I agree with you, I saw the monsters myself." The guide replied flatly. "I was here the whole time."

"Now, those two villains from yesterday." The guide raised her eyebrows. "How did they get here?"

Both students shrugged.

"Why did they get here?" she asked the next question on her list.

"Um, they wanted some magic stones?" Ling answered as she looked at Ye.

"Yes that is what everyone else knows." The guide confirmed as she scribbled a short note.

"And now, you fought them along with those two foreign kids." The guide continued and looked very calm and composed which put slight note of anxiety in the two students.

"Um they are not ..." Ye started talking drawling out each word.

"Don't" the guide waved her hand. "I know. The recorder is off. I am not writing anything. Tell me the truth."

"She is our cousin." Ling admitted. "Her mother is Chinese. She lives in Paris." Then she said Marinette's real name and age and how they got there.

"Okay." The guide sighed nervously. She did not make a single note. "Now I will write down their names and age as they wrote in their application, but you will continue to tell me the truth."

"Adrien is French, but he was learning Chinese for years and wanted to get some practice." Ye continued, but then he explained how the boy travelled and how he was hiding from his father.

The guide had her eyebrows so high that they got partially hidden in her hair.

"It turns out that villains we fought were his father and his assistant." Ling finally added.

The guide now had her mouth opened.

"And they fought them and we helped, along with two monks from this temple." Ye continued.

"Well, he fought, I was mostly just live streaming to Alya." Ling said proudly. "It took a long time for Ladybug and Chat Noir to get here."

"Okay, so you have the fight on video?" the guide inquired with a raised eyebrow.

Ling already produced her phone and pressed play.

The guide watched intently, sometimes she winced, sometimes she moved her head or the whole body as if it was her right there in the middle of the fight and she evaded blows inflicted by Hawk Moth and Mayura.

"Okay, I will look for these monks now." The guide said after she returned the phone and thanked Ling. "I know already that the old guy is not going to speak with me."

The two students escaped to the bathroom and checked the two young teens who were still asleep.

Pema knew what to answer, she was vague, she used old words and she described the fight in every detail that she could remember. But, she never gave a single hint of knowledge from where the magic powers were coming from.

Dorje was even briefer as he preferred to give answers formed as single words. The government guide was slightly annoyed by not getting any new information, but she knew what was waiting for her when those two kids wake up was pure gold. If only she was able to put it into her report.

Adrien woke up first. Ye was shaking him awake.

"You two should better go to the bathrooms and fetch some breakfast before that guide finds you." The boy warned.

Adrien stroked Marinette's face gently. He felt guilty to stir her from her well deserved rest and sleep.

"Just few more minutes, please." She begged and all three teens laughed.

Adrien sat up and got her to sit, But Marinette kept her eyes closed.

"Come on, let's go." Adrien spoke quietly as he leaned into her space and shook her gently.

Ling and Ye got to their feet and Adrien used the opportunity to whisper.

"You want to be fully awake before that government official catches you and starts with questions." Adrien warned teasingly.

Marinette's eyes flung open, she looked fully awake now. Except it was pure panic in her eyes and not a trace of awareness.

Adrien got on his feet and felt Plagg as a dead weight in his pocket. Right, the kwami of destruction preferred to sleep in the mornings and usually only asked for food.

Marinette got to her wobbly legs and walked along Adrien.

"We just spoke to her. She knows." Ling said casually.

Marinette stiffened.

Adrien looked at her in panic.

"She already knew you were foreigners and under age." Ye said lazily. "But she will write in the report what we put in your application."

Adrien sighed, he visibly relaxed after he heard those words.

Marinette continued to walk and just stared before her.

"Okay then." she whispered. And the two students described the whole interview they had on the way to the bathroom and later on their way to the breakfast.

They were eating together when the guide appeared, took her food and sat beside the two teens.

"Great job you two, for notifying me when your cousins woke up." The guide scolded. She sounded serious, but the small satisfied smile on her face was telling she was not mad.

"So, Marinette, right?" she said as he eyed the girl. Marinette nodded in response.

"And Adrien." The guide turned around towards the boy who respectfully nodded back.

"Care to tell me your version of the story?" The guide asked casually and put one spoon of the food in her mouth.

Adrien did most of the speaking. Marinette pressed out a sentence or two in Chinese, but it mostly prompted stifled laughter from her cousins, and then Adrien would correct her with a soft smile on his face and explain to the guide what the girl wanted to say. And more often than not it was also used by the boy to hide their identities as Ladybug and Chat Noir. Because the only filter Marinette had was what was lost in translation, and even more was gained apparently.

"So, the guy under the mask was in fact your father?" The guide inquired.

"Yeah, I had no idea." Adrien replied with a tone of regret in his words. It was true regret, if he only discovered that earlier, he thought they could have beaten the two villains long time ago.

"When did you found out?" The guide asked slowly and observed the teen carefully, she watched each move on his face.

"Um, at one point during the attack, he teleported few of us to get the body of his wife. It was the body of my mother." Adrien spoke slowly. "I thought she went missing or died or something, father always kept such things from me as some kind of a secret."

The guide nodded in understanding. She did not want to press the boy with more questions regarding his family situation, it was obvious to her that further inquiry in that direction would have only caused more pain.

"So I considered it my duty to fight him and protect the other students and the monks and everyone here." The boy concluded the speech.

"I saw the fight. You took many hits." The guide nodded. She was determined to protect these two kids from further questioning. It would protect the two teens, it would prevent them exposing their cheating to other government officials and the guide also protected herself that way, because it was her who let them on the bus in the first place.

"Do you need any medical assistance. They have a doctor in that camp below the cliff." The official offered. "You haven't asked for any medical help last night and the fight looked really gruesome."

"That is because the Ladybug and Chat Noir did come in the end and fixed everything, our injuries included, so we were just a bit tired, that's all." Adrien explained with his signature model smile.

"You can't fool me with that smile any more, young boy." The government guide scolded. "I know you can't be okay, but if that magical girl fixed your injuries, I am not going to complain."

Adrien was relieved, he preferred to avoid any further examination, including the medical one. He explained the problem to Marinette and she approved.

"If you agree, I will put in my reports that four brave Chinese students and two monks defended the group from the villains and their names should not be exposed for their privacy." The guide offered a deal.

Adrien nodded enthusiastically. Of course he would agree to such an offer, it was a deal made in heaven for him. Then he explained the deal to Marinette who was not sure if she understood what the guide offered (she did but she could not believe her luck) and the girl confirmed the deal too.

"It is just, if French media release the video of that fight, they would know our true identities, at least mine, for sure." Adrien spoke quietly as he pointed to the flaw in the plan.

"Don't worry about that. It can always be filed under what you call the tabloids." The guide reassured them. "It is a word of the government official who was here against some foreign media who were never here." The guide had an audacity to wink. "Besides, according to the data we have, here we have four students and two monks. I am merely leaving out a few details that will be masked with the privacy reasons. You are under age, I am not allowed to release your data."

Adrien nodded and smiled. It started to make sense. Everyone knew he studied Chinese, he merely went to practice the language. It would work both ways.

"And now, do you want to know what happened to your father and his assistant?" The guide asked carefully.

Adrien shrugged.

"I never knew my father was still so hooked up by my mother, I mean, I thought he was with Nathalie, actually I knew he was with Nathalie, I just thought they were waiting for something to make it official, to make it public." The boy rambled. "Now, I am not sure if I want to know, you know?" Adrien looked at the guide with a helpless expression on his face.

"Well, they both claim they do not remember anything about the fight." The guide answered flatly.

Adrien shrunk, of course, that was the only solution. They both knew too much. Then the boy nodded in response.

"And they mostly answer with no comment." The guide continued. "They have requested legal representation. They will be transferred to Lhasa for further inquiry."

Marinette looked at Adrien with a small smile. She took his hand and squeezed it. He smiled back and squeezed the hand back. He was going to be okay.

"Now, about how you entered the country." The guide continued.

"My bodyguard has papers that basically grant him guardianship over me in the absence of my father. That was the only way for my father to leave France without me." Adrien smiled. The single paper that allowed his father to abandon him also allowed Adrien to get a visa and travel with his bodyguard.

The government guide laughed at that fact, she waved her head in disbelief as she understood the trick that the boy did to actually travel to China at all.

"And then her parents and your bodyguard let you travel with those two." The guide pointed towards Ling and Ye.

"Well it was an organized excursion." Adrien replied. "Something like a school trip."

"Yeah, a school trip. All right." The guide smiled.

The woman seemed satisfied with everything she got. She knew she was about to skip a few facts. She was sorry she was going to omit the fact that the boy stood against his own father to protect his fellow comrades. But she knew she had to. She patted the boy shoulder and took her leave.


	92. Chapter 92 - A Normal Life

Living a normal life

The four teens finished their breakfast slowly as the guide watched them and asked a casual question from time to time. The 'interrogation' part was finished and the government guide resorted to the usual polite conversation with the students, about the school they went to and what their parents worked for a living. She avoided asking Adrien about any family stuff, but he answered all the same for himself and from time to time for Marinette. But he had to be quick because Ling was very eager to answer anything on behalf of anyone present.

And the young Chinese girl could not help herself but explain how Adrien was a famous model and worked for his father's company. She was rather excited about that. The guide eyed the boy a few times. Well he did look different than the other students, but she assigned that observation to the fact that he was, in fact, European. Then she noticed the whole speech Ling made was making the boy uncomfortable and she raised a hand to stop the girl for a moment in the middle of her speech and motioned for Adrien to say something.

"Um, I just wanted to go to a regular school and have a normal life. I was home schooled for most of my life." Adrien spoke quietly.

"You might want to cut down on that fan stuff." Marinette whispered to her cousin. "Please?"

Ling nodded and smiled. "I got a bit carried away, sorry?" She smiled sheepishly.

"It is okay." Adrien smiled back. "I just got used to be treated like a normal human being over here and your speech is a harsh reminder of what is waiting for me." The boy could not finish the sentence with the words 'at home' because he wandered where his home was, and if he had one.

"You are not excited about going home?" The guide asked casually. She knew most of the students enjoyed this little adventure and few of them ventured to return for a longer term stay and study the monks and their way of life because they were interested in anthropology or history, or they just intended to study some related subject at university.

Adrien waved his head after a short pause while his mind wandered back to the present time.

"This temple feels more at home than the way I lived in Paris." Adrien replied. "Everyone is so friendly, I can always talk to someone if I want. I can eat as much as I want." He pointed to the bowl he just emptied.

The guide furrowed her eyebrows.

"What? There is no food in Paris?" she asked incredulously.

"Oh there is, excellent food, her parents have the best bakery in Paris. She kept spoiling me by bringing me treats. But I was not really allowed to eat that because I am a model and was put on a diet ..." The boy was glad when he got interrupted in his explanation.

"Well that is going to change." Ling nudged him with her elbow and wiggled her eyebrows. Marinette blushed instantly. Of course her cousin expected Adrien was going to get food from her parents.

"Yes, I guess it is." Adrien smiled. He looked at Marinette fondly and winked. The girl blushed even more. She kept telling herself that they were all rushing to conclusions. The life at home looked so far and undefined at that moment.

"You will live a new life once you get back there." The guide winked at the boy. She had no clue what was going to happen with him. "I am sure someone like you will find your way in life."

Adrien nodded and smiled. It was a compliment and he took it well. Someone believed in him even after knowing him for this short time and even after they learned that his father was a villain. That lady had all the reasons to be angry with him, because he lied in his application and might have put her into trouble, but here she was, she reassured him and encouraged him to move on and look forward into the future.

"You should get ready, we are leaving tomorrow morning." The guide finished her breakfast, got up and left. That was her, back to business, she did not have the time to spare.

Marinette stared at Adrien in panic. And he did not look much better at that moment. They were leaving tomorrow? Already? They completely forgot about that little detail that they are, indeed, scheduled to return, with a booked flight and train and the school excursion was not supposed to last forever. What about the miracle box? What about her training for a guardian? Were they to just leave the box over here? Perhaps it belonged here, anyway? Adrien looked at her and understood the source of panic in her eyes.

What if she had to stay and train? What possible excuse was she to give to her parents for not coming back with the others? 'Sorry maman, I accidentally locked myself in the bathroom and forgot to take the bus?' She pondered. Nah, too lame, she used the bathroom excuse too many times already. 'They were having this very interesting event planned out and I wanted to stay and film it for Alya?' Nope, her parents would simply go nuts.

Adrien stared at Marinette. He was ready to stay in the temple if asked to. He wanted to stay. He did not want to go back to the world where he was a son of a famous fashion designer and a supervillain. He dreaded the conversations and the interviews. He expected whatever awaited him was a nightmare. It was so nice there, in the temple. But then he imagined how he would feel if everyone left, Marinette, her cousins and he was left with only the monks for company. He would have little company his own age again. Most of the kids in training are about to be taken to a normal school, he understood that much, the government insisted that much.

"Right, we wanted to visit that village, you two want to join?" Ye said casually and broke the train of thought in both kids.

"Um we … " Adrien trailed off, but a bite he got into his chest executed by his ever hungry kwami told him he had no choice.

"Yes of course. We'd love to go." Adrien winked as he rubbed the place where he got bitten.

Marinette first looked at the boy with an expression 'have you lost your mind' in her eyes, but then she noticed he rubbed his chest and she simply knew why they had to go. Then she felt Tikki patted her belly from her front pocket.

"Yes, I guess we should." Marinette finally agreed to the plan how to spend their morning. They left the monks and a small number of students in the breakfast room and went to get their shoes and jackets. The mornings were cold.

They went down the irregular steps that formed the stairs towards the temple together with a large group of more than twenty students, the government guide and several monks, including both Pema and Dorje.

Once outside, Adrien noticed the remains of the bruise on Marinette's face. He took her hand as they wee going down the steps, he wanted to help and steady her as well as he needed someone to hold onto himself.

"Does it hurt?" He whispered ad he raised his other hand but did not touch her face.

"Hurt? What?" She asked surprised by the question.

"Your bruises." Adrien motioned towards her face.

"You have a few bruises yourself. I thought the Ladybug cure took care of that." Marinette whispered.

"Well, your bruise is only visible outside in the daylight and it is from the fall from the night before, remember?" The boy could not hide the guilty feeling from his voice. "When I fell on you?"

"Um yes? It feels like it was at least last week." Marinette sighed.

"I feel like I was awake for a week before we slept last night." the boy added.

"With all the time travelling, we were probably not far from that." Marinette shrugged. She knew from the fight against Chat Blanc that she did not feel the time that passed.

Adrien remembered his time as Aspik. He did not have a clue how much awake time that had accumulated for him, but he did not feel like he was awake for a month, the magic did its job.

They finally reached the bottom of the steps.

"I am going to coordinate my findings with their commissar." The government official said shortly before she disappeared in the direction of the army camp and the students continued walking towards the campsite of the nomads.

Ling and Ye chuckled at her statement.

"I wish I could see the faces of the persons who would be reading those reports." Ling winked towards the two young teens.

"Um, I do not know how it works in Paris." Adrien shrugged.

"Don't worry. Administration always works in mysterious ways." Ye chuckled and then started to exchange stories with Ling about different experiences they had while handling paperwork.

That gave the two kids a brief chance to talk about the problems they still had to resolve and the deadline of going home was approaching.

"We need to get the Book of Lore from Gabriel and Nathalie." Marinette whispered to Adrien and Pema when they were slightly behind the others. Pema nodded. Adrien sighed.

"That is going to be difficult. We can't just break and enter into a container in a government camp." Adrien sighed.

"Besides, those government officials have seized everything they found there already." Pema whispered back. "It is going to be transported back with the two of them and examined by the government inquiry."

"I was going to say that Adrien and Marinette can't break into the camp, but perhaps Ladybug and Chat Noir could?" Marinette winked.

Adrien smiled his signature Chat Noir smile. He liked when his lady was slightly naughty.

"And perhaps we might use some help from a certain horse?" she whispered as she waved her head towards Dorje.

"Hm." Pema hummed as the other students were approaching closer and they could not continue their conversation as before.

"Are you sure that Ladybug and Chat Noir were to wander around that campsite freely and take whatever they wanted? I mean, after everything that happened?" the monk asked casually.

The two teens became far more serious as the implication of her words hit them.

"We are not in Paris and even there we did not always get a full support and understanding from the authorities, especially if one of us looked as if he had stolen something." Marinette whispered to Adrien.

"That was not me and you know it." Adrien feigned being insulted and then smirked at her. "I guess you are right. We will have to be careful." After that, Pema walked away from the two kids and exchanged a few words with Dorje and it looked as if the man agreed to the plan. Well, they still had to persuade the guardian.

They enjoyed the visit to the village. They were offered local food in a form that might be described as a doughnut. Marinette wandered if her father would know how to make one just after tasting it. Adrien, on the other hand, was more interested in cheese, well he himself enjoyed the pastry, but he had this itching feeling on the surface of his chest, imposed by a certain tiny black cat, that he just had to search for the cheese. Finally, he managed to get his hands on on a considerable portion of cheese in exchange for another solar powered gadgets, and this one was really useless on this trip as it was a mere toy.

But then he noticed that the large monk bought a huge amount of cheese that he was about to carry back to the temple. Adrien knew that amount was intended to feed the students and the monks for the celebratory dinner that evening. And he also knew a certain tiny deity that would probably float over and phase into that bag if he was not careful. So he quickly took one chunk of cheese and stuffed it into his shirt. He disposed the rest into a small bag he carried.

Marinette watched the exchange and almost bent over with laughter.

"Go and lead Dorje away, quickly. We have to keep distance between a certain kwami and that parcel" She said to Pema. "Adrien and me are going to be late. Really late." the girl whispered while she struggled to contain her laughter. "Otherwise Plagg will make that load considerably lighter."

They return back to the temple was filled with thaking photos and banter with Marinette's cousins.

"You have to come to Paris when you find the time." Adrien told them in between two jokes.

All three of them laughed.

"It is not that simple, we have university to go to, the practice and probably part time jobs to support us." Ling said when they got a bit more serious.

Adrien took a breath then exhaled.

"I wanted to say that I could cover your plane tickets, but I guess that changed too." He said glumly.

"Perhaps you could play a game just like I did?" Marinette asked feeling particularly lucky.

"Not everyone has your luck, you know." Ye smiled.

Marinette felt one kwami pat her belly from the pocked in her jacket.

"Yeah." she sighed happily.

The government guide stood at the top of the steps, her arms were stacked with a number of identical forms.

"I did everyone except those two." The guide motioned towards Pema and Dorje. "And those two old ones. The really old ones. Please help me?" She raised her eyebrow at Adrien. The boy nodded in response. "There, name, date and place of birth, education, known illnesses, everything I need." The guide said flatly. "Please, just fill in at least the first page. I know it is silly, but they are Chinese citizens now." She added. "I really do not like the paperwork, but it is a part of this job."


	93. Chapter 93 - Administrative Purposes

Administrative purposes

Adrien took the forms from the government official. It was him who promised to deal with that a few days ago. He looked at the form, it was simple and asked for some basic data. At least he understood what was asked in most lines. The government official gave him one firm nod and left him with Marinette and empty paper forms.

They both went to the small room where Adrien was examined on the first night. Tenzin awaited them with Dorje and Pema. Dolma walked in after the two teens settled on the carpet.

"Sorry, but I promised to do this for you. These are some forms to fill out for the government." Adrien waved the papers. He read the lines and the young monks answered quickly. It was odd. They turned out to be about two centuries old. The young monks looked at the forms with interest, it was written in simplified signs, not what they were used to deal with before.

"This temple and its surroundings were not part China when we disappeared, but we both knew some Chinese." Pema explained.

"Many monks here are from China." Dorje added.

Adrien filled in the data quickly and Marinette helped.

Then it was time for the two older monks. They watched the exchange with interest and hidden amusement.

"We were both more than two centuries old when the temple disappeared." Tenzin smiled and stroked his beard. He watched the two teens with amusement.

Adrien sighed. Was he really to write down such data? He resigned. He was about to write down the truth and then he was about to leave it to the government official to decide what to do with those data. So he wrote down the data and smiled.

"The history teacher in our school would really enjoy if we brought you to school on the day we usually bring our parents." Adrien smiled. But Tenzin stiffened at the words and his hand stopped stroking his beard mid way.

"Don't worry, we are not taking you there. Unless you want?" Adrien continued smiling. But there were few odd looks exchanged between the monks.

"Are we going home at all?" Marinette finally spoke after the long silence.

"That is … not determined yet." Tenzin replied quietly. "We have to do a procedure for … administrative purposes." The old teacher smiled in a peculiar way, Adrien wandered what it meant.

Dolma took her seat and struggled to look important.

"I think we established you are chosen wielders." Tenzin spoke solemnly. "And you have proven to us that you are worthy to keep your miraculous although you revealed your identities." He eyed his elderly counterpart to check if she was satisfied with his wording. Pema translated for Marinette.

"That was not entirely their choice." Tikki floated out and intervened.

"They did not have a clue even after they got to the temple." Plagg argued as he floated next to Adrien.

"Yes, indeed, it was us who revealed them to each other." Pema added and Dorje nodded to confirm that.

"Exactly." Tenzin continued.

"We only let those who trained in the temple to reveal their identities." Dolma said solemnly as she recited the rule.

"That is why we knew Fu's identity and he knew ours." Adrien continued.

"He was a guardian." Plagg cut in.

"That is for us to decide." Dolma said.

"I say you have received your training in the temple, completed the learning and mastered the techniques that are suitable for you age." Tenzin said solemnly as if he was leading some formal event.

Adrien translated with furrowed brows, he was not entirely sure what the old teacher meant. Marinette nodded to Pema.

"Of course, we are just kids." She said with a smile.

"We still have to fight Felix." Adrien argued. He wanted to keep Plagg.

"Of course. You will be able to leave but you will also return for further teachings." Tenzin added with a small smile. He was looking forward to that.

"Now about the miracle box and the new Guardian." Dolma continued sternly.

"We agreed that you have demonstrated great care and the ability to protect and guard the box, its contents and the kwami." Tenzin continued.

"So I get it back as a new guardian and bring it to Paris?" Marinette asked with a glint of happiness in her eyes. And perhaps a few tears welled up too. But then she remembered the responsibility. Well, maybe it was to be easier with Hawk Moth out of the picture.

"No" Dolma and Tenzin replied in unison and waved their heads simultaneously.

Adrien and Marinette looked at each other in confusion.

"You have demonstrated that you yourself do not have the energy required to handle all the problems that might face you while you are handling the kwami." Dolma spoke slowly and waited for Pema to translate. "And you risked yourself too much. It is not wise from a guardian to incapacitate themselves while they are helping the kwami." The old monk scolded.

Marinette sank, of course, she was talking about reviving Nooroo and Duusu.

Adrien perked up with confused expression on his face.

"Then I get the miracle box and I am the new guardian?" the boy asked cautiously, he did not believe that was really an option. He only helped Marinette.

"No" Both elderly monks replied in unison as waved their heads again. But Tenzin had a knowing smile on his lips that soon evolved into teasing and later into an expression of pure mischief.

Adrien and Marinette looked at each other confused even more.

Pema rolled her eyes and looked at Dorje. The young monk winked back.

"You do not have sufficient knowledge." The old guardian spoke.

"I can learn, Marinette can teach me." Adrien argued.

"Exactly. You do not have the experience." The old monk continued.

"She will share her experience with me." the boy continued.

"That too. And you do not have the training." Dolma finished.

"I um, I can stay and train?" Adrien finished with a question. The he sighed and looked with more determination. "I offer to stay here and train." He added with more certainty in his voice.

"That would not be necessary." The old teacher replied as he stroked his beard with a crooked smile on his face.

Pema was waving her head signalling 'no' to the two old monks, but they were unaffected.

"You will both share the duties of the guardian and you will take the miracle box with you." The old teacher explained slowly.

Pema facepalmed. Marinette jerked her head towards her as she never expected a monk to do something like that. Dorje just waved his head in disbelief.

"Thank you, we will need it in out future endeavours." Adrien replied solemnly as he was spoken to not exactly taking in the current mood in the room.

Marinette looked at the two teachers in panic. She knew there was a catch. Pema stopped translating. Adrien just replied something, Marinette did not know what were the last few sentences spoken.

"We do it together?" She asked timidly.

Pema looked at the girl and nodded.

"But in order to do that, the two of you have to become one." Dolma announced solemnly.

"They are too young. It is illegal to do that to children these days. We learned that downstairs, on those lectures the students gave us." Pema complained.

"I can confirm that." Dorje added as he raised his head.

"What do you mean? What do they want us to do?" Adrien asked with a slight of panic in his voice.

Pema turned around to the two kids.

"In order to share the duties of a guardian, the two of you should become one." She spoke slowly as she was explaining the situation to Marinette and Adrien. The girl blushed severely. Those words had a meaning she did not want to take in. It was all her dreams come true. And it was too early in her life. Adrien slowly turned to Marinette and understood the meaning only after he saw her blush.

"That means that you ..." Pema continued in a calming tone as the blush on the girl's face told her the young teenager already imagined all sorts of things.

"They already share everything. We thought they arrived her as a couple." Dolma reminded everyone present. Pema translated the words and then continued to explain.

"You see, the only way to share the duties related to the miracle box is if you are married." Pema continued her explanation until an abrupt and shocking stop.

"Fu said Marianne knew about the miracle box." Marinette whispered as thousands of thoughts passed through her mind. Then she noticed Adrien looked at her with questions in his eyes.

"Marianne? Who was Marianne?" he asked quietly.

"There was a woman who master Fu loved, she knew about the miraculous box and what was inside." The girl explained slowly. "When master Fu released his memories, I took him to her." She finished in a weak whisper. "But he never mentioned her as his wife. They were not together. They were separated for years. She got akumatized over that." Marinette explained louder.

"It is not a real marriage. It is like a partnership, we just call it marriage for … administrative purposes." Pema reassured the girl.

"It is, as far as we are concerned." Dolma crossed her arms before her chest.

Pema sighed.

"We are both too young to be legally married." Adrien whispered. But he looked at Marinette adoringly, it was not as if he had anything against that. And he was about to get a new home out from this? The boy was already dreaming moving in into her pink room, living above the bakery with Tom and Sabine (he was getting parents on the side), getting all kinds of treats, sharing a life with her …

Marinette, on the other hand, was in her own dream land until the reality hit her. How was she to explain to her parents that she went for something that was supposed to be a school trip and got back married at the age of fourteen?

"Childhood marriage is something not looked at with approval any more. You can't marry them, you can't call that a marriage." Pema continued to advocate for the two teens.

"That is how we call it. Are you speaking for them or for yourself?" Dolma inquired.

"My parents married me when I was younger than you." Pema explained. "I escaped before I was taken to my husband's house and joined a temple to serve there, but then I travelled to this temple as I followed one monk. And here they let me stay … only to marry me again, at the age of fifteen, to him." Dolma waved her head towards Dorje who smiled sheepishly. "Because we were both trained to be the temple guardians." She lowered her head. "We share the duties so we share everything."

Adrien looked at the two monks in awe.

"You agreed to that." Dolma reminded her.

"It was not like I had much choice." Pema looked down to her hands.

"Today there is divorce. You could even annul the marriage." Marinette whispered and fetched the papers that Adrien was holding. "Here, we can ..."

Pema waved her head. "I do not want to." She smiled towards Dorje. "I just wished I married him when I wanted to, and how I wanted and because I wanted to." The woman continued. "Not because I had to." She smiled at Dorje and the large man smiled back.

"We do not have the first wedding night, nothing like that." Dorje whispered to Adrien and the boy blushed severely. "This is more like … administrative procedure to mark your alliance to work together."

"You can even marry someone else in your civilian lives." Tikki chirped.

"But they should never know about you being a wielder of a miraculous." Plagg added.

That made sense. They were just supposed to have some kind of partnership ceremony. Adrien winked at Marinette and she blushed back but produced a small shy smile.

"So it is not a real marriage." Marinette whispered.

"No" Pema waved her head.

"Of course it is real, how real can it get?" Dolma said as if she threatened them. "If you decide to drop your duty you both drop it and you both renounce your memory."

Suddenly it all sounded far more serious than a simple marriage that can easily end up in annulment or a divorce.

The two teens looked at each other with serious faces.

"On the other hand, if you decide not to go ahead … " Tenzin intentionally made a dramatic pause that allowed Adrien and Pema to whisper the translation, but Marinette understood the meaning even before she heard that. "You are about to loose your memories too." Tenzin looked at Marinette.

"Because I distributed the miraculous? But Hawk Moth revealed the identities of all the wielders I have chosen." Marinette looked down.

"All of them?" Tenzin questioned with a knowing look in his eyes.

"Not all." She whispered. "Not him as Aspik … she motioned as Adrien, not me as Multimouse." She continued as she motioned towards herself.

"And?" The old teacher looked at her expectantly.

"And Bunnix, I also know her identity, although I have not chosen her yet." Marinette whispered to herself. "And yet I know her identity already."

Adrien nodded. "Me too." He smiled at Marinette.

"Then it is valid for both of you." Pema sighed.

"We don't really have a choice." Marinette whispered. Adrien nodded.

"It is just something that will allow us to share the duty." Adrien spoke quietly. Pema decided not to translate what the kids were saying. It was their decision.

"We are too young." Marinette replied.

"We were chosen young. You got the miracle box this young." Adrien replied as he was trying to persuade her to agree.

"Yeah, we got all those responsibilities. You really want this?" Marinette looked at the boy with her eyes wide. It was as if she was thrown into some magical fairy tale where she got her prince charming for her happily ever after. Except their happily ever after included fighting evil monsters at all hours and hiding their secret identities.

Adrien took both her hands in his.

"We are too young to call this a marriage. Let's just say that the monks in the temple approved of our partnership, My Lady?" But the grin on his face was unstoppable. And the kindness and warmth in his eyes made her heart skip a beat, or two. She finally nodded in return.

"Good." Dolma said as she clapped her hands.

"There is only one thing to do for … administrative purposes." Tenzin got up and tied a shawl around their hands. They quickly released their hands and Adrien took the cloth in his hands while Marinette examined it by touching the stitches in the end.

"Now you can take the miracle box and take your kwami for a walk or whatever you want to do with them." Dolma smiled and slowly walked out from the room.

"You know, we were as young as you are when we got married." Tenzin whispered with a tone of conspiracy in his voice. Adrien smiled at the old teacher. "But remember my boy, that does not mean her body belongs to you, oh no, and neither does your body belong to her. That is not part of your duties." The old teacher warned and Adrien blushed severely.

Marinette was confused and Pema whispered the explanation to her. The girl stared at the carpet as her ears turned red.

Then she decided to distract herself and quietly opened the miracle box and took the pendant necklace, the comb and the choker and put them on. She pushed the box towards Adrien and let him choose which miraculous to take.

"Don't take more than three and do not transform." She told him calmly, but she still avoided his eyes.

Soon they were busy with eager and active kwami and Adrien felt all sorts of joy wash over him, he felt his healing had just started.

Note: by no means would I ever support child marriage, but I could not invent any other name for the bond that the two should have, and the same name should be applicable like two centuries ago (and more). I imagine they also applied the same bond between two males or two females although I have not provided such examples in this fic.


	94. Chapter 94 - Master of Gods

Note: I'm back after slightly disabling my laptop (now recovered, it only fails to recognize the main battery in Suse Linux) after an attempt to play a film on it ...

Master of Gods

The two old monks left the small room and the two young monks followed. The two teens were left alone with their mixed feelings because of the events that just unfolded. Were they really married? They both shook their heads simultaneously to shake off the thought.

And then, there was the miracle box. They were just assigned to share the duty of the guardian. Marinette was supposed to teach Adrien what to do. She took a deep breath. It was a perfect way to distract herself from what just happened. She motioned towards the miracle box and Adrien nodded.

Marinette out on the pendant necklace first.

"Hello master." Mullo greeted.

"Hi Mullo." Marinette smiled. "Do you recognize where you are?" She had took the mouse miraculous on purpose as the tiny mouse kwami seemed very homesick about the temple.

"I do." Mullo exclaimed while he floated around excitedly. "I do recognize!"

Adrien watched the tiny kwami as it floated around with amusement. "The mouse is so cute." He whispered. Then he looked at Marinette. She was so cute as Multimouse. And he was so sure she was Ladybug just until the moment he thought he saw the two of them side by side.

"And I am not cute?" Plagg muttered from his position on Adrian's shoulder. The boy snickered in response and patted the tiny black cat. "You are too grumpy to be called cute, Plagg."

"Be careful, there are many civilians around." Marinette added. "Please stay in this room." The girl pleaded to the tiny mouse kwami.

"But the monks, they can see me!" Mullo protested while she floated in front of the entrance to the room that was hidden behind a tapestry.

"There are students who are not supposed to see you." Marinette smiled. "Please come back. Let me introduce you to Chat Noir and my fellow guardian." The girl spoke as she motioned towards Adrien.

The boy smiled widely. Plagg sat on his shoulder and pretended not to be interested and looked away to the empty wall beside the boy.

Mullo floated closer to the boy.

"Plagg?" Mullo called excitedly.

"Yes it is me Mullo, I usually accompany Chat Noir." Plagg muttered.

"Don't be such a grumpy cat." Adrien teased.

"He is just pretending, he is just as excited and happy as I am." Tikki chirped as she floated over to Adrien's face and nuzzled him then she turned towards Mullo and smiled widely.

Marinette put on the comb and Pollen appeared.

"Hey, Pollen, come over and meet Chat Noir, and our new guardian." Mullo exclaimed to the newly appeared Kwami.

Finally Marinette put on the choker and Longg appeared. She was pulled over to meet Adrien too.

"You are our new master? " Longg asked incredulously.

Adrien smiled shyly and nodded.

"How do we call you?" Longg inquired.

"You can call me Adrien." The boy replied politely and smiled.

"What about her?" Pollen asked incredulously as she floated over to Marinette.

"They are both our guardians." Tikki chirped.

"They are sharing the duty." Plagg added as he floated in front of Adrien's nose and faced the other kwami. He was not even trying to hide the pride in his chosen.

Adrien tried to look at Plagg, but the kwami was too close to his face. The boy just giggled at the kwami. His face was almost split with a wide grin as the Kwami examined him.

Then he took two bracelets for the snake and the turtle miraculous and went for the circlet of the monkey kwami but Marinette waved her head.

"Perhaps not for your first time." she smiled. "You better chose something else."

Finally he took the fox miraculous pendant necklace.

Sass appeared first when he put on the bracelet.

"Hello Master." Sass greeted and bowed his head.

"Hi Sass, remember me?" Adrien smiled at the small snake like kwami.

"I remember you, I thought you have given up on wielding me as Aspik." Sass replied.

"Oh, no, I am a new guardian." Adrien smiled. "I share the duty with Marinette." The boy looked at the girl and smiled gently.

Sass turned around and looked at Marinette, then he looked back towards Adrien with a knowing smile on his face.

Tikki floated over and waved her head with a warning flashing from her eyes.

"Soooo." Sass drawled the 'o'. "You share the guardian duty?" The tiny kwami stressed the word share and duty while he turned around towards the girl and then back at the boy. "So soon, I see." The tiny kwami grinned. There was a knowing spark in his eyes.

"Sass?" Tikki called as she floated straight into him and pulled him aside. "Was that your plan? From the start? When you read her diary and … " Tikki whisper shouted at the other kwami. At least Plagg was able to hear each word and floated over. The other kwami and two kids mostly just laughed at Tikki and Sass.

Adrien put on the other bracelet and Wayzz appeared.

"Hello Wayzz." Adrien greeted with a smile and explained the situation briefly before he put on the pendant necklace and greeted Trixx.

Wayzz was cool about having two guardians and spoke to them slowly and calmly while Trixx pounced all over the two teens. Mullo nuzzled Marinette gently and Longg floated calmly on the side.

In the meantime, Tikki was scolding Sass and Plagg looked like he was having time of his life.

"Have you made them come all the way over here only to make them share the duty?" Tikki whisper shouted.

"They fought Hawk Moth, they won." Plagg teased Sass, but it was Tikki who returned and incredulous look. Sass looked surprised at first, but then he calmed down and assumed his usual cool composure.

"And that too? You see," Sass smiled slyly. "I was right, they had to come over here." But the tone of his voice made sure that both other kwami in the conversation knew that was just a byproduct.

"Yes but you!" Tikki was obviously not very happy about Sass.

"Yes but I what?" Sass replied with a smug expression on his face.

"What have you done?" Plagg inquired, he was just so curious, he had to know what made his Sugarcube so angry.

"Well perhaps I might have read our guardian's diary." Sass rolled his eyes while he spoke.

"Her diary?" Plagg whispered as he got even closer to Sass. Because now they had two guaridans, and Plagg knew Sass did not read Adrien's diary, because there was none.

"Yeah, she wrote about how much she loved your chosen and how she even gave him to wield me that one time." Sass spoke with a smug grin.

"Yes, I remember that." Plagg was not remembering any happy memories from the time Adrien spent as Aspik. Then he spoke louder, intentionally, so the boy could hear him. "He only wielded the snake miraculous to impress her." And there was no hint of jealousy in Plagg's tone, none whatsoever, he was not jealous because his chosen decided to take the Snake miraculous from Ladybug just because he had a crush on her. Nope. And he was not so perry to be jealous because he was left aside while his boy tried and tried (and failed and failed) to have a successful battle while wielding only the snake miraculous. It worked fine in the end when they combined, but, there was still this remaining pain. Not that Plagg remembered all the attempts, it was a single five minutes span for the black cat kwami.

"Plagg!" Adrien blushed severely as he tried to stop his kwami from talking.

"What? You have." Plagg grinned. "And you failed. Miserably." The little black cat teased further. It was clear that Plagg meant 'that he failed impressing Ladybug' not only that he failed as Aspik.

"Actually, you are wrong about that." Sass smirked as he looked at the boy.

There was hopeful expression on Adrien's face.

"Oh, trust me, you could not be more wrong." Sass returned a knowing look.

Tikki floated over to Sass and put her tiny paws at her hips.

"You. Are. Not. Going. There." The tiny red kwami threatened the snake kwami.

Adrien looked over towards the girl who was slightly blushing.

"I, um, appreciated your wisdom when you gave up the miraculous for Luka." Marinette said sheepishly.

Tikki, Plagg and Sass all smirked with a same knowing look on their faces, she only gave him the miraculous because she liked him (and believed in him).

"So you are our new guardian too?" Trixx pounced around Adrien.

"I am honoured to meet you." Pollen floated over and chased Trixx around.

Adrien aughed.

"Are you from a respectable family?" Longg inquired as she floated over Adrien's face.

"I can't say that I am from a respectable family any more." He said with a hint of sadness in his tone, but his face looked happy because of the kwami.

"His father used to be Hawk Moth." Plagg stated simply. All the kwami looked at the boy with strange expressions on their face.

"But my chosen fought him and won." The tiny black cat floated proudly as he recited the words.

"They did it together." Tikki chirped. "Hawk Moth and Mayura are defeated."

There were cheers coming from the kwami.

"They fought in the temple and won while not transformed." Plagg stressed. But then he suddenly changed the expression on his face and looked up as if he was trying to compute something. Did that mean that his chosen did not exactly need him (his kwami) to win? Was that a good thing for Plagg's ego? The tiny god of destruction was not so sure about that any more. But he was proud of the boy nevertheless.

"But what about Nooroo and Duusu?" Mullo asked.

"We have put the jewels in the miracle box." Marinette spoke slightly confused. She expected the other kwami already knew.

"They are still too weak to be active in the magical world." Tikki chirped.

"Yeah, they get to snooze their lazy butts." Plagg teased while it was not only Tikki who glared at him.

"But we got them to appear, they have spoken with us." Adrien protested.

"Hawk Moth and Mayura spent a lot of time in the temple transformed." Plagg shrugged.

"But you two were looking for them in the miracle box?" Marinette was confused.

"Yes we did, and we did not find them." Tikki confirmed in a light hearted tone.

Trixx, Mullo, Pollen and Wayzz gave her an incredulous look.

Sass and Longg exchanged a knowing look and sighed together.

"Our chosen brought them back to speak with us." Tikki chirped proudly "We have seen them." she continued in a cheerful tone..

"This is how they are the new guardians now!" Plagg stated as he tried to be even more proud than Tikki. Sass looked at Plagg with a knowing look that said 'We both know that is not how you become to share the duty of a guardian."

"But! We put the brooch and the pin in the miracle box." Marinette tried to understand what was going on. There were too many things she did not know, suddenly she was not so self assured about being a guardian. She wondered if that was a good decision they have made.

"Haven't you met them in your magic world?" Adrien asked cautiously, he was not sure if his question made much sense. He had absolutely no experience as a guardian. And now he was named one, he was to be trained by Marinette. So he faced the girl as he put the question as if he expected her to answer it and she smiled lightly.

"No." Pollen and Trixx waved their heads together.

"We have not seen them." Mullo replied as she floated over to Marinette.

"We have not expected to see them." Sass continued.

"We would have felt their presence." Wayzz added.

"That is because they were not there." Longg finished.

Then there was a short moment of silence.

"Um, as a Guardian, I do not know much how your magic world works." Marinette admitted. Adrien just smiled sheepishly at the kwami, slightly relieved that they both did not know.

"We are still in the temple." Longg finally spoke solemnly.

"The magic works differently in here." Mullo piped in hopefully.

"Yes, yes! Have you?" Trixx floated over eagerly

"Have you found the cursed stone?" Pollen elaborated the question further.

Sass raised an eyebrow (that thing above his eyes anyway)

Tikki and Plagg looked uncomfortable.

"I, um, I thought I did." Marinette spoke slowly. "But then Hawk Moth took it and nothing happened." She continued as she looked to her hands. "He even threw it at Mayura and hit her brooch." She sighed. "But they did not detransform, nothing happened." Marinette sounded exasperated.

"That is excellent news for Nooroo and Duusu, actually." Sass retorted.

"We kwami are not supposed to know how it works." Tikki chirped in.

"We were not really supposed to know where it is and even to know for sure about its existence." Plagg continued as his eyes glinted with mischievousness.

Marinette and Adrien looked at their kwami, they were both there and now they could know which stone it was from the description of the fight the girl just gave.

"Only the temple guardians know." Sass cut in as he eyed both kwami, it was clear to the floating snake that the two kwami saw the stone or at least knew something more about it.

"Pema and Dorje, they were there." Adrien whispered as he looked Marinette in her eyes and the girl looked back. So the temple guardians knew that Plagg and Tikki probably saw it and possibly knew. The girl expected that the two temple guardians were moving the stone.

"Anyway, we were talking about Nooroo and Duusu in the magic world of the miracle box." Marinette switched the subject quickly.

"Perhaps we should move the box outside the temple if the magic interferes … " Adrien spoke but he was quickly cut off.

"No" there was a collective shout from the eight kwami.

"It is important for them to stay in the temple for as long as possible." Wayzz was the first to speak.

"Um." Marinette replied wisely as she looked at the boy. Adrien shifted in his place.

"We are supposed to leave tomorrow morning." Adrien spoke quietly.

"You will have to leave them here then." Sass shrugged.

"Oh no." Mullo whispered.

"They need their time to recover and they will recover faster if they are here." Longg continued.

"But it was Marinette and Adrien who brought them back." Tikki protested.

"It might be better for them to go with us and the miracle box." Plagg continued.

"Can't you stay here?" Mullo whispered.

"Do you have to leave?" Pollen inquired.

Adrien sighed. To be honest he was asking himself the same question, he wanted to stay. He dreaded to come back to Paris. There were too many uncertainties. He wanted to stay in the temple with Marinette, with Dorje and Pema to teach them.

But other students would leave the temple, he would loose all other social interactions, there would be no Ling and Ye. He had friends in Paris.

"Um, we will have to leave to get some food for ourselves. Please eat before we put the miraculous jewels beck to the box." Marinette smiled to the kwami. They ate and floated around bantering at each other while Marinette and Adrien laughed at their antics. Then they took off the extra jewels and put them away in the box.

"I think we should leave the box here until this evening." Marinette smiled.

"I'd like to meet more kwami." Adrien smiled back as they finally left for lunch.


	95. Chapter 95 - Lunchtime

Lunchtime

Before lunch, Marinette talked to her parents while Adrien answered the messages to his bodyguard and then joined the girl as they both talked to all the adults, including Marinette's uncles and aunts on the other side. They also saw their own kids, Ling and Ye, involved in the fight and were rather concerned.

Marinette persuaded her mother that they rested, had a nice walk outside to the village and talked to the monks about what happened and felt fine.

"Yes maman, we got very nice herbal tea here, last night they gave us something before we fell asleep and this morning we got something for the pain and now we are going for lunch and ..." Marinette rambled until Ling jumped in explaining all sorts of remedies that were available to them.

"How is my bodyguard?" Adrien asked when he got a chance to speak. "I know what he wrote to me, but I'd like your opinion Sabine, please." The boy expected his bodyguard did not take the news well. He was employed as a bodyguard of a resident villain's son, and that did not look good on someone's Curriculum Vitae.

"He is fine, all things considered." Sabine said with strained cheerfulness. Then she obviously changed a room and the tone of the voice. "Him and Tom have watched that video … more than once. With me and then with Ling's and Ye's parents." Sabine continued quietly. "Then they had a really long walk outside and we also had the same tea as you when they returned."

"Okay, he wrote me about that, thank you." Adrien replied when Sabine stopped talking.

"Listen Adrien, don't worry about us, just take care of yourself, okay?" Sabine begged.

Then they heard Tom who had a few things to say. He was mostly trying to keep the spirits up, on both sides on the phone conversation.

"The important thing is that it is over now." Tom concluded and everyone confirmed before they said their greetings and cut the connection.

The four teens went for lunch and took their bowls with food.

"I have disabled receiving calls on my phone." Adrien said with a smile. "It goes straight to voice mail and that is full." He then turned his phone as if he had to prove his statement.

"That is probably useful." Marinette shrugged. She studied her phone. There were messages from Alya, of course.

"Uh, I got a request for an interview from Nadia Chamack." Marinette exclaimed unsure if she should be excited or appalled. "Apparently she sent the same message to my parents and they did not answer. I thought she needed babysitting for Manon again."

"I am not even opening those." Adrien laughed.

"You said Nadia Chamack?" Ling asked incredulously.

"Yes." Marinette answered. "She is a TV News anchor, I babysit her daughter."

"I got a request from her too." Ling flipped her phone for the others to see.

"Me too." Ye confirmed.

All four of them looked at each other rather confused.

"What is new?" Pema asked as she brought more herbal tea for them all while Dorje carried two bowls with food for the two of them.

"Are you getting news from home on that?" Dorje asked quietly.

"They actually want news from us." Ye answered.

"The news are what happened here, yesterday, with those two villains." Ling added.

Pema and Dorje looked at each other.

"Everyone wants to know what happened." Adrien said quietly and looked at Marinette.

"But Ling was livestreaming the fight, what else they want to know?" Marinette asked confused.

"You mean, those people that took them? The soldiers? I thought we told them." Pema asked again as Dorje frowned while he was eating his lunch quickly.

"Nope. The people in Paris, they want to know." Adrien replied. "The defeat of Hawk Moth and his identity are probably the biggest news there."

"Are we famous?" Ling asked.

"Well you were filming, and you took no selfies, so you are not." Adrien teased.

"But I am?" Ye asked, he looked rather confused. Adrien nodded in reply.

"Is it good or bad?" The older boy asked and Adrien laughed.

"That is a good question, but the fact is you are a hero now, in Paris." Adrien smiled.

"And the two of you" Adrien turned to the two monks "Are becoming famous in Paris, according to the message from Chloe." Adrien opened the message on his phone while Marinette rolled her eyes. "Her father, the mayor of Paris, plans to invite you as heroes on the next Heroes Day celebrations." Adrien spoke solemnly as if he was announcing the prize before a large audience.

"Yes, we are going to Paris." Ling exclaimed as she raised her fist in the air and sing sang the sentence.

"We are going to Paris." Ye joined her singing.

"We are going to Paris?" Pema asked tentatively while her eyes went wide.

Marinette was reading the message on Adrien's phone and nodded to Pema.

"Where is Paris, again?" Dorje asked quietly and Pema smiled, then she nudged him with her elbow and spoke quickly and quietly until the monk had an 'a-ha' moment when he remembered.

"But, we are guardians of the temple, we are not supposed to leave." Dorje protested quietly.

Adrien furrowed his brows.

"You are not allowed to leave the temple?" the boy asked incredulously.

"But, you were with us, outside ..." Marinette trailed off.

"Oh, we are, sometimes we were away for a week." Pema shrugged.

"But Paris is in France, in Europe, that is far … " Dorje protested again.

Marinette was staring at Adrien's phone, then at the boy and then back at his phone.

"What is she writing about your house?" Marinette finally collected the courage to ask.

"The police searched the place from rooftop down, they located his lair and everything." Adrien sighed and made it obvious that it was not a pleasant conversation for him, but he continued anyway. "Chloe's father seized the Mansion and everything inside for the police to investigate, only the stuff in my room is still there. They kept the cameras out from my room" The boy sighed.

"So, you have your room back." Ye nudged the boy in his ribs.

Adrien frowned.

"You can go back home." The older boy continued as he tried to cheer up Adrien.

"Shut up Ye, imagine if you had only your room, the boy needs a bathroom, too." Ling added.

"Oh, I have a bathroom, too." Adrien continued.

"And a kitchen." Ling added with raised eyebrows.

"I do not know how to cook, it might be better to keep me out of there, I might blow the place up." Adrien joked.

Everyone laughed.

Adrien felt Plagg scratched his chest, the kwami was probably worried about his mini fridge and where was he going to have his cheese stored in the future. But the boy could not talk to his kwami and reassure him.

"But, still, to be in a small room instead of a whole house." Ling continued.

"My room is big, probably bigger than her house." Adrien continued as he motioned towards Marinette.

"Oh that is great, you can go home then." Ling said with a wide grin.

"It is a room in a house but I would not call that a home." Adrien continued.

"What do you have in your room?" Ye asked curiously.

"I have a piano, king size bed, a huge desk with ridiculous amount of screens, table soccer, basketball hoop, climbing wall," Adrien was naming things as he counted on his fingers while the rest of the group mostly watched with their mouths opened. Marinette knew that none of that made the boy particularly happy so she frowned, especially when she caught his tone while he named the things as if he was reading an inventory list.

"And a ridiculous amount of arcade games." Adrien finished. The boy noticed how Ye and Ling watched him with their mouths opened.

"Man, you told me some of that stuff, but now that I hear them again." Ye waved his head in disbelief.

"But I am not allowed to have friends over to play with them." Adrien continued as he raised his hand again, the frustration was clear in his tone.

"But now you could?" Ling asked as she tilted her head.

The boy stopped talking and looked at the older girl before him. Then he smiled.

"Yes, I guess I can." His smile was wide. "I can invite anyone I want." But then his face fell as he looked back to the (switched off) screen on his phone. "At least as long as I am allowed by the police and the mayor of Paris." Adrien huffed in the end. "But I guess I have a better chance with them than I had before." He laughed to himself.

"I seldom had friends over, but that was because we would be in the way and I had a really small room." Ling admitted.

"Once I made a party there, well my friends crashed in and … " Adrien remembered Party Crasher. "Anyway, Kim was swimming in my bath." The boy chuckled. But then he stopped talking as he remembered the akuma and wondered if his father ever actually left the Mnasion.

"We mostly played outside. There was not much to do in my room." Ye admitted.

"I like Marinette's room, it is like a sanctuary." Adrien smiled. "A very pink sanctuary." The boy teased and teased until the girl's face turned as pink as her walls.

The two older teens looked at each other while they were biting their tongues not to say the first thing that popped to their minds. They both wanted to tease the kids, but it was just a day after the fight with his father, it might be too much too soon.

"What do you have in your room?" Ye asked feigning curiosity as he expected a similar inventory list like Adrien did.

"What is your room like?" Ling asked instead. And Marinette explained slowly.

"Well, you enter the room through a trap door, it is small, but I have everything I need and ..." Marinette trailed off when she saw a mischievous grin on Adrien's face while he looked at her sideways since he sat next to her.

"And?" Ling asked from the opposite side and motioned with her hand for Marinette to continue.

"And a loft bed and from the loft bed I can climb up to the rooftop terrace." The girl continued and finished with the last part.

"Oh, I have to see it." Ling clapped her hands together.

"It sounds nice." Ye smiled.

Adrien grinned at the girl. He was waiting for further questions.

"And how have you decorated the room?" Ling asked further.

"Well I have pink wallpaper." Marinette looked around and tried to remember what else to say. But all she could see was Adrien's face with the dorkiest Chat Noir style smile. "And a few posters." She said quickly as she looked down to her bowl and took more food.

Adrien started to laugh. It was a happy laugh, because he knew that Ladybug had posters of him, Adrien, in his room.

"What posters?" Ling asked as she felt confused by Adrien's reaction.

Marinette pointed to her mouth as if to say she was chewing her food and could not possibly reply right away.

"She has a few posters with photos of me." Adrien smiled gently and wrapped his arm around the girl who almost chocked on her food.

There were several pairs of eyebrows raised at the two young teens.

"Our Marinette is really interested in fashion and … " then the boy trailed off as he remembered her admiring the designs done by his father, but he knew the real reason for the posters so he chose different words. "So she was collecting posters of different designs and I was the model for those designs so you see … " The boy winked at Marinette and she blushed to an eve more intense shade of red.

Everyone noticed how red Marinette was. Everyone understood the real reason why she was keeping pictures of the boy in her room.

"Um, yes, designs, definitely." Ling said as she nodded her head.

"Must be the designs." Ye nodded in confirmation as both older teens exchanged knowing looks and glanced towards the younger teens suppressed to burst out laughing. And then they finally laughed their hearts out while Marinette hid her face in her hands.

"You know, she also has a live size cardboard cut out of Jagged Stone in her room and she met the guy and worked for him." Adrien continued. The boy felt obliged to help the girl out of this situation as it was making her uncomfortable.

Then the two older teens spoke about the posters they had in their rooms and how they never actually met those people in real life.

Then Ling and Ye excused themselves as they intended to call their parents once more.

"Please take your tea with you." Dorje reminded the two older teens.

"We'd like to talk to Adrien and Marinette a bit more." Pema smiled cautiously as they left.

Marinette whipped her head back to the monks as soon as she deemed polite. Both monks were silent during the teenage banter, but both of them were smiling from time to time to their antics.

"What is it?" Adrien asked while his eyes were still smiling as he took the tea in his hands and sipped.

"It is about your marriage." Dorje stated simply.

Adrien almost let the tea go down the wrong tube. Marinette was completely red in the face again.

"You do know about what it means?" Pema asked cautiously.

"We share the duty of the guardian." Marinette said as simply as she could, quiet, no stuttering, she was proud of herself.

"No, I mean what adult married people do." Pema said a bit too loud because other students who sat around heard her too and turned towards them.

Both teens looked down into their tea and pretended none of the conversation was related to them.

The group of four was silent for a while until they stopped being interesting to their surroundings.

"We are pretending to be brother and sister here." Adrien whispered quietly to the two monks.

"You know, if your parents have not explained it to you, we can." Pema added quietly

"They have." Marinette raised her hand quickly as she spoke even faster. "You don't have to explain."

"Actually, my parents have not ..." Adrien started to speak and then noticed Marinette waved her head. "Spoken with me about that?" The boy looked at a flustered girl who was determined to stop this conversation.

"You. Are. Not. Going. There." She whisper shouted. She was not having that talk with two monks in a Tibetan temple. And with Adrien. That was too much. Nope. She was having none of that.

"Okay, for now, remember what teacher Tenzin told you. What he did is considered a valid ceremony for us. " Dorje whispered to Adrien quickly as he leaned over.

Adrien nodded. He could not help a gentle smile that washed over his face as he looked at Marinette. But she did not know what they were talking about.

"We have such education at school." Marinette whispered. "We do not have to do that now."

Was this day ever going to end. First they _married_ her and now they wanted to do the _talk_. But then the information on what Adrien had said finally hit her.

"Your parents never talked with you about … ?" She blushed too hard to be able to finish the sentence.

"Nope." Adrien smiled. "But that does not mean I was not educated." The boy teased back. "I saw all those educational cartoons." He finished.

Marinette sighed with relief.

_(There is a French educational cartoon series about the human body "La Vie". It is rather old, but I would recommend.)_

"I learned everything." Adrien spoke quickly once he understood where the conversation was going. And it was going awkward. He did not want to talk about that, and with Marinette, not just yet.


	96. Chapter 96 - Nino is not having it

Nino is not having it

After avoiding most part of the awkward talk with the two monks, Adrien turned back to his phone.

"Is Alya bothering you with more questions?" The boy asked Marinette quietly. Pema raised her eyes briefly when she glanced to the two teens, but then she pretended to be busy with her tea and food. Dorje caught her behaviour and did not ask her anything, he allowed her to eavesdrop.

"Um" Marinette took her phone. "Only 26 messages from Alya." The girl said and shrugged.

"Twenty six?" Adrien asked incredulously. "_Only_ twenty six?" The boy continued.

Marinette nodded and shrugged. She was used to get massive amounts of messages from Alya, they were often just one word, mostly formed as a question, and related to her and Adrien, and that was something Marinette was not ready to discuss with him, just yet.

But Adrien raised his eyebrows at her and was not going to settle for that as an answer.

"Alya likes to pry, she mostly has questions about … you and me." Marinette barely whispered the last words while she looked at her hands. Adrien smiled gently, but she did not see that. He understood she was too shy to talk about that subject. "And" She continued slightly louder. "When Alya does not get an answer instantly, she continues to send messages like 'girl' 'why' 'where are you' and so on until I answer." Then Marinette bowed her head and actually opened the message application and her chat with Alya. There was a usual longer message followed by a lot of short questions, emojis and simple teasing.

"Nino wrote to me that she has gone nuts and that we should ignore her." Adrien turned his phone to show Marinette the message.

"This is not much more than she usually writes." Marinette smirked. Once she admitted that Alya was teasing her about her and Adrien, and the boy in question did not produce any negative reaction, she felt relieved. "And she stopped sending them last night, see?"

"Well, let's call Nino then." Adrien said quietly and pressed the call button before Marinette had a chance to protest.

"Hey dude." The usual greeting from Nino sounded from the phone speaker almost instantly as it started to ring.

"Hey Nino." Both teens greeted their friend. "What are you doing?" Marinette asked as she squinted her eyes and then turned away her face quickly.

"Um, I was actually in the bathroom, sorry, I was not aware I was answering a video call again." Nino apologized as the screen went dark and they could only hear a few muttered and distant noises before the screen got lit up again.

"Better?" Nino asked and Adrien nodded while he replied "Better."

"So what are you doing anyway?" Adrien asked again. "I mean besides the obvious."

"Well, I just got up and made breakfast for Chris." Nino said as he sounded a bit tired. "It is raining outside so I will not be meeting Alya in the park. Besides, I think it is all for the better."

"So you are home with your little brother?" Marinette asked.

"Yeah, it is morning here, and we just got up, like an hour ago, or more like, Chris got up as soon as maman and papa left for work and started the video games while I slept. I am so busted if they find out." Nino was obviously very tired.

"You look very tired dude." Adrien furrowed his brows.

"Yeah, Alya kept me awake all night." Nino complained slowly and tiredly. Marinette blushed severely, Adrien raised his eyebrows. Then finally the boy in Paris understood what he just said. "It is not what you think, she was sending me messages all night." Adrien raised his eyebrows, that did not sound any better than the first statement, Marinette turned away from the screen as she continued to be red. "Not those kind of messages, uh!"

Then Nino sat down. "Chris, please eat your food." Nino said to his little brother.

"I started getting messages from her where she demanded that I send her again all the photos you sent me from China and that I ask you to send me more photos and that I send her the recordings of all our conversations which I did not make in the first place and … basically I did not send her anything and now she is angry with me." Nino bowed his head.

"She sent only the usual messages to me." Marinette replied cheerfully.

"The thing is, that livestream from yesterday made her blog really famous, now Nadia Chamack wants to interview her and I think it got to her head. I will not let her use my friends to make her career." Nino said firmly.

Adrien and Marinette exchanged a look.

"Thank you Nino." Adrien was the first to speak. He was used to be used by his so called friends and acquaintances for his fame, and this was exactly the same, just a different kind of fame, and this time Gabriel Agreste and Nathalie did not control the media for him. "She did help me a lot so I would agree for an interview for her Ladyblog once I get back from China." Adrien looked at Marinette. "Weather Marinette would agree to that is her own decision, and we are both minors so her parents should agree as yet for me ..."

"Don't worry bro, I wrote her that much last night." Nino waved his head. "Now listen, I was home last night and talked to my parents. You are invited to stay here for as long as you need. We will adjust my room, we will have to share. I know it is not what you are used to but ..."

"That is excellent news." Adrien exclaimed with a huge grin on his face.

"Or you can get the other room and Chris will be with me." Nino continued the offer. "But they can't adopt you, they say it is too much paperwork and they need more time to see about that guardianship stuff."

"That is okay." Adrien smiled. "Everything is perfect."

"I am just not sure what will you do about that fancy babysitter of yours." Nino continued.

"Well, I might need him even more now that I am so famous." Adrien gave his lopsided smile that he often showed as Chat Noir and almost never as Adrien.

"Dude, what you showed yesterday, the way you fought, you might not need him at all." Nino teased back.

Adrien raised his arm from Marinette's shoulders and flexed his muscles.

"You are right, I am so muscly it is scary." Adrien teased back.

Marinette rolled her eyes.

"You might need that when you come back." Nino continued. "Be prepared for the fiercest attack of your fangirls." The boy adjusted his red hat and winked.

"Oh, I have here one rather fierce lady to defend me from them." Adrien teased Marinette who blushed again just when she started to resemble normal colour in her face. Adrien wrapped an arm around her and brought her even closer.

"She might scare them away form what I could see yesterday." Nino nodded showing his deepest respect in his words.

Marinette took a deep breath and cleared her throat. She briefly clenched her hands into fists to encourage herself and then finally spoke.

"I can rescue my prince over here from any mob of fans that might be after him." Marinette joined the teasing.

"Oh, you have showed me that already when I escaped the mansion to see that film, remember?" Adrien told her gently while a shadow passed over his face. It was Solitude, the film that featured his mother as a main actress.

"I remember I had to hide you from the crazy fans and the media back then." Marinette smiled gently.

"Well, you see dude?" Adrien spoke to Nino again. "I have a bodyguard right here." The boy smirked as he glanced back towards Marinette and then back to the camera.

Nino grinned at his friends.

"Dude, you two look so cute together." He said without thinking and then slammed his hand over his mouth.

Both teens blushed.

"Sorry, dude I did not mean to make this awkward." Nino apologized quickly before anyone said anything.

"Dude, you think I am cute?" Adrien raised his eyebrow while he teased his friend on the other side.

"Sure I do." Nino smirked back.

"I did not know you had it in you, dude." Adrien continued.

"Oh, I did not think like that before, only when I saw you with Marinette." Nino replied.

Marinette groaned and covered her face with her hands, which was probably for the best considering what was coming.

"So only when you saw me taken, you started to be jealous?" Adrien continued to mock tease his friend while it was Marinette who blushed at his words. He held her tighter as he felt she might run away from embarrassment.

"Yeah, you got me there, dude." Nino nodded as he spoke.

"What about Alya?" Adrien teased.

"Oh you are way cuter than her, but only when Marinette is by your side." Nino teased back.

"So it is her who makes me cute." Adrien continued.

Nino nodded in response as he did not want to continue the teasing, he noticed Marinette covered her face and she was probably rather red underneath.

"Did you hear that, you are so cute you make me look cute." Adrien turned to Marinette while he was talking and she hitched a breath and groaned while she exhaled.

Adrien laughed.

Nino waved his head.

"Please just stop." She begged both boys because she could not be the centre of such attention, it was just too much for her. Adrien squeezed her even tighter before he relaxed his hold but did not let go.

"Sorry, did we make you uncomfortable?" The boy asked quietly and Marinette nodded while she kept her hands over her face but she peeked between the fingers and that made Adrien laugh.

"Okay, let's change the subject then." Adrien proposed as he turned back to the screen,

"Um, yes, if you need anything from your room, please let me know. Or Chloe. She can get that for you, or I can ask her." Nino said in a more serious tone.

Adrien was thinking, his face changed several expressions.

"I could talk to Chloe but I am not sure if I want her snooping around my room while I am not there." Adrien said deep in thought.

"Your house is completely surrounded by journalists and paparazzi but the police and the Mayor are not releasing any information. You might want to ask Chloe what is going on there." Nino continued. "Actually, I think she and the Mayor are flying back to Paris only today, he controlled the raid remotely so far with Sabrina's dad, and Sabrina I guess." Nino added.

"I understand." Adrien nodded. "They need time to travel and it is not so easy, but Sabrina and her dad are doing most of the work for the two of them anyway."

Marinette let her hands fall into her lap.

"Please just remind everyone that Adrien is a minor and they have no right to go through his things without a legal representative present." Marinette spoke firmly. She had no lawyers in her family but she understood that much from the lectures on civil and children's rights they had.

"Uh, actually, the social service already assigned a person as your legal representative, and your bodyguard apparently has the papers as a temporary guardian, that is how you left the country in the first place." Nino whispered while he watched his little brother. "My parents learned that last night when we were discussing your stay here and my parents already contacted her to ask for approval."

Adrien was confused, again someone was making decisions for him.

"She replied that she has to meet you first and talk to you, and she would have to interview all of us, but the idea was okay with her in general." Nino continued when he saw his friend frown.

Adrien lightened up instantly. That was much better, he preferred that woman to Nathalie and his father even before he met her.

"She probably sent you a message, she got your number, you might want to talk to her." Nino continued seriously.

"Um, I got a lot of messages, how will I know which one is her?" Adrien frowned back, but this time he was concerned and thinking not annoyed.

"I will ask her if I can send you her number." Nino replied quickly.

"Thanks dude." Adrien grinned.

"You will have to think how you will pay me back for all these favours I do for you, dude." Nino teased back as he smiled and showed he was only joking.

"You can have any of the games from my room, anything at all." Adrien grinned.

"I do not have the space to put it here, especially if you are moving in." Nino sighed half serious half joking while he looked around. "Besides, I doubt I would ever get my turn to play with Chris around." Nino turned the phone to show that Chris had re-started the video game.

"Chris you have not finished your breakfast, go back to the table and eat." Nino ordered to his little brother and then turned the phone back to his face.

That distraction allowed Adrien to get an idea.

"Actually, if my room is preserved, we can make a party there and you can use all of the games as much as you want." Adrien grinned at his idea. The body of his mother was no longer in the mansion (the thought of having a party there while she was somewhere around made the boy cringe) and if the police and the mayor allowed him to use it then he might as well organize a party. That was what he always wanted, he wanted to have friends over and he was never allowed any.

"That is great idea dude." Nino grinned. He wanted a party and he wanted his friend to have a party and he remembered how happy Adrien was when they actually had a party in his room that was unfortunately disturbed by the Party Crasher. But still, they had their fun. "Perhaps we could invite the rest of the class, too?" Nino proposed timidly.

"But then you would have to share the toys." Adrien warned teasingly. "And you do not want to share them with your little brother."

"That is because Chris is so possessive over any games he can lay his hands on." Nino retorted. "Chris go back to the table, now." Nino groaned as he pulled the phone away.

"But then you would have to share with Kim and Max and ..." Adrien continued with teasing voice.

"Kim is going to be interested in your bathtub only." Nino sighed.

"But we are going to invite the girls this time, are we?" Adrien raised his eyebrows while Marinette nudged him.

"We both know your girl is going to come weather she is invited or not." Nino teased back.

Marinette huffed.

"That was not fair." The girl muttered.

"I need to find a game where I would beat her." Adrien teased as Marinette rolled her eyes.

"I have only beaten you in the Ultimate Mega Strike Three." She groaned.

"She will beat us all there, trust me dude, you do not want her anywhere near your arcade games." Nino warned.

"I am sure there are games there that I have never played in my life." Marinette waved her head. She could not believe they had that conversation. It was not as if she had to win each time. It just happened, okay? She was not that obsessed with wining. Never. At least she would never admit to that. Her need to win and her ability to concentrate and win any battle no matter how hopeless it got was never what she did, it was never the quality that made her excellent Ladybug in the end.

Adrien smirked. He knew how competitive she could be.

"I am sure there are games I never played in my life either." Adrien replied slightly exasperated.

"I thought you tried them all, being bored and locked up in your room as you were." Nino raised his eyebrows.

"Probably, but I am not sure, besides there were a few games for multiple players that I never played because I was not allowed to have friends over. I mean, how was I supposed to play table football alone?" Adrien waved his head and smiled at the stupidity of the way his room was organized.

"You are right." Nino nodded as he adjusted his cap again. "Chris go back to the table, finish your breakfast and take your dishes to the sink, this instant!" The boy groaned away from the phone.

"Nino, we are going to hung up now, you can take care of Chris." Adrien proposed.

"Okay." Nino replied distractedly. Adrien and Marinette said their greetings.

"Same to you, stay cute." Nino greeted and cut the call to his blushing friends.


	97. Chapter 97 - Are fe Famous?

Are we famous

It was the last afternoon that the students were to spend in the temple. The weather was sunny and fine and there were different activities they could enjoy before the time to prepare the last dinner for this group of students and everyone was distributed to different tasks. The government guide took pity on the beaten up kids and relieved them of the water duty for the whole day, and most of the cleaning part, so they walked around the temple and enjoyed the sun.

It turned out that Alya had sent strange requests for all the photos from their whole trip in china to Ling and Ye too, with a rather unbelievable excuse so the two older teens decided not to do it. Ling even replied that the current network was too slow (which was not entirely true but not completely a lie either).

"Perhaps there is nothing wrong with Alya." Adrien spoke quietly. Marinette flipped her head towards him so quickly that her neck hurt her. "Perhaps someone had stolen her phone." Adrien frowned. He had some experience with issues like these, although he never had to deal with those himself, there were people in the company paid to do that.

The three other teens stared at the boy. Each of them got to the same conclusion. That would explain the odd messages Marinette's cousins got, but why would someone steal the phone and then demand more information than was already there. It did not make much sense.

"That is why nobody is allowed to have phones at the secret photo shoots and that is made common knowledge." The boy spoke up. "It is not about the device, it is the information on the phone that can be sold."

Ye and Ling had incredulous looks on their faces, they were not buying that.

"Or they are not satisfied with the information on the phone and want more?" Ye shrugged.

"There is no limit to human greed." Ling shook her head.

"That makes sense." Marinette shrugged. "It still does not explain why they did not contact me." She was doubtful they had all the information needed to reach the right conclusion.

"Perhaps … Perhaps they do not know about you?" Ling said as she wondered what could be the reason. That did not make much sense either, although Marinette avoided sending any photos so it was possible that whoever took the phone missed her as a possible source of more informaiton.

All three teens shrugged while Adrien decided to type a short message to Nino to check if Alya's phone was stolen. All four of them decided that was sufficient and wanted to move on to brighter subjects.

"So, we are going to Paris?" Ling was practically jumping with excitement while she spoke. It was obvious that was all she wanted to talk about.

"Well if Chloe or the Mayor of Paris invited you, then you are definitely going." Marinette smiled back. She used the tone that stated clearly they were not really given the choice not to go. She knew how determined Chloe could be. "I am just not sure if you want to be her guests." the girl shuddered when she remembered what Chloe was able to say or do, she did not want her cousins to be exposed to that. But then, perhaps she would be nice to them, it was not possible to know in advance.

"Why?" Ling frowned. Being invited as guests of Mayors daughter was certainly an honour, why would anyone avoid it was beyond the older teen.

"She can be … difficult." Marinette looked towards Adrien before she chose the last word and he nodded approvingly. She was still worried about insulting his childhood friend. Little did she know how far from an insult she had been.

"How difficult?" Ye cut in. He had few experiences with other kids that were marked as difficult. Aside from exhausting attention seekers, the kids were usually just fine, just had some quirks of their own, nothing much.

"Well she is the Mayor's daughter." Marinette shrugged. "She likes to treat everyone as her servants." She took a deep breath. "Sometimes she can be a real brat."

"A spoiled brat?" Ye asked incredulously and Marinette nodded.

"Is not that a shame for a politician? To have a spoiled child who is abusing his position?" Ling asked curiously.

"Um, not really, not always, at least not with her." Marinette replied lost in thought. She remembered just how many times Chloe threatened with calling her daddy whenever something was not according to her wishes.

Adrien was busy checking messages from Chloe and Nino on his phone. He smiled and Marinette was relieved. The boy either did not hear or did not mind what she said.

"I agree about Chloe. But apparently some other people considered me a brat too." He smirked.

Marinette bowed her head in shame.

"What?" Ye asked.

"Who?" Ling exclaimed.

Marinette raised her hand as if she was asking the teacher for attention ins school and nodded sheepishly as she admitted she was the guilty party.

"Well, I am sorry about making that wrong conclusion about you." Marinette spoke quietly.

"No, this is not just about the way we met in school." Adrien teased. "Apparently my legal guardian had a certain opinion about me too, but it is cleared up now." He grinned as he showed his phone again, but nobody wanted to read the correspondence and he was not in the mood to go into details.

"Well, you have a way with people." Marinette teased back relieved this was not about that gum incident, again.

"Um, yes, apparently." Adrien admitted as he bowed his head down and retrieved back his phone.

"I do not like this conversation, it turned too serious." Ling complained.

"We were talking about us going to Paris." Ye reminded them all.

"Apparently all of us are invited by the Mayor and you can stay with Chloe." Adrien narrowed his eyes while he was reading the most recent post from Chloe on her social network account. But that got them exactly to the starting point of their conversation and the other three teens went silent again.

Adrien smirked, he wondered if Chloe was aware she was inviting Marinette's cousins because one of her messages mentioned that the two students might be invited to stay in her suite. He said nothing out loud. Perhaps Chloe was changing for the better and decided to be a nice host to the civilian heroes who helped defeat a Parisian villain although they had never been there. Or perhaps the clue was in her last message 'You showed those two superheroes how to fight a villain.'

"Anyway, you are coming to Paris and if you do not want to stay with Chloe, who definitely can be a brat … " Adrien started. He wanted to offer his own room, but he was not sure if it was really in his power to offer that. He also understood that it was not a good idea to just let the two teens stay with Chloe if the girl turned inhospitable out of pure whim.

"You can stay in my pink room." Marinette pointed towards Ling. "And you can stay in the small guest room downstairs." She pointed towards Ye. The young teen knew better than to throw her cousins at Chloe's mercy. She was ready to give the girl a chance, but not really throw everything on it. It will take a lot of time for Marinette to trust her again, and to throw her cousins at her mercy? That was a bit too much to ask.

"You know, according to Chloe, nobody published my name, any of our names, because the two of us are minors and they do not know the others." Adrien smirked. "They just recognized my face on the live stream." He was not sure how many people recognized Marinette in the video. He was not sure Chloe recognized her in the video because she never mentioned her in any of the messages.

"I did not find a single piece of news where our names are published, they just mention me as a minor without my name and request that nobody posts the snapshots from the fight without our faces blurred." Adrien continued.

"So we are not famous?" Ye said jokingly.

"Where is my fifteen minutes of fame?" Ling asked the skies in mock exasperated tone.

"I think the fight took longer." Marinette frowned and then winked at her cousin.

"Oh you are famous, they just do not know your names." Adrien replied. "Or they do, but need your agreement in order to publish them."

"That is exactly what that journalist asked me in that message I got. Now I understand." Ling replied.

"Well if my face is blurred, then they do not know my face either." Ye mock complained and even emphasized his feign frustration by raising his hands. He wanted to continue with their banter.

Everyone laughed.

"Oh, you will be famous as soon as you are seen with Adrien, that is for sure." Marinette teased.

"You mean I did not have to fight?" Ye asked in mock exasperation.

"Nope." Marinette waved her head.

"I took all those blows for nothing?" Ye continued.

Marinette nodded her head.

"All we had to do was to take a few selfies with Adrien?" Ling raised her eyebrows.

"Um yes, that is the reason most people take selfies with me, actually." Adrien looked to his feet. He was a bit saddened with his realisation. Really, Chloe and Lila were truly using him and his fame for their own self promotion.

"But we have so many photos with you and never published any." Ling smiled as she waved her phone. Adrien laughed back. He enjoyed being treated like a normal human being, he warned them only not to publish his name and avoid his photos because his father or Nathalie might stumble upon the photos and he wanted to keep his travel a secret. But now there were no more obstacles for them to publish those photos.

"Don't speak so loud." Ye whisper shouted. "They will hear you. Someone will steal your phone" The boy said pretending to be a spy from a film.

They all laughed.

"Well, someone wants me to send her all the photos, you know?" Ling waved her phone again.

Adrien frowned his face again and opened the messages he exchanged with Nino.

"Alya has her phone but claims she did not send out any messages since last night, she is busy with her sisters. Nino finally sent her an email and she replied from her computer." The boy read the message. That did not make sense to the boy. If Alya still had her phone, then she was really asking for all that information? She said she did not. Then who did it and how?

"Okay, then someone snatched her account in the messenger application. That is easily done from a computer, you just need the phone number, but if she does not see the messages that were sent, then someone tampered with her phone." Ye shrugged.

"I'm writing Nino to contact Max." Adrien replied quickly and typed.

"Okay, but really, what about that being famous stuff?" Ling asked incredulously as the subject shifted to serious again and she was in the mood for joking.

"Do we have to pose for more selfies now?" Ye said as he snapped a picture of the four of them, none of them had a pose and Adrien barely raised his eyes from the phone.

"Oh, you do not need selfies, you can just run around Paris with him while you are wearing your pyjama for fifteen minutes and you become famous." Marinette joked about the day she helped him reach the cinema to see the film starring his mother.

Adrien laughed his heart out while he stared at the sky. Then they told the story together about that day and everything that happened until the moment Gorzilla took Adrien from the cinema.

"Okay, so far this is how I understood you deal with fame." Ye snickered and took a short pause while he spoke, he inhaled deeply to increase the dramatics and emphasise the words he was about to say. "Don't panic and bring a towel." He was barely suppressing his laughter at first, but him and Ling were laughing their hearts out as soon as he finished talking. Adrien joined them in laughter but Marinette missed the point.

"That is form the Hitch-hiker's guide to the galaxy." Ling said once she calmed down.

"That is sci-fi I read just before I joined school." Adrien explained how he knew.

"Ah, you mean the towel on my head? I also had googles." Marinette smiled back.

"I hope we will be able to walk around Paris without a helmet, a towel and the googles." Adrien sighed. He was used to fame and he did not enjoy it.

"What else do they say about us?" Ye asked as Adrien opened yet another news site.

"Apparently, Ling, you are very skilled film maker, they praised the way the composition of the video turned out?" Adrien laughed as he read and finished with a question.

"I hid wherever I could and just kept the phone out." Ling grinned.

"Ye has amazing fighting skills, it is obvious he trained several combat sports." Adrien continued.

"Well, I did have gym class in school." Ye flexed his muscles, assumed a fighting position and then made a few moves as if he was fighting, but in slow motion. But the older boy also struggled to keep his face straight as he wanted to burst into laughter again. It did not help him that all three other kids were laughing at his antics.

"And Pema and Dorje show how the monks trained ancient combat skills." Adrien nodded his head. Marinette was silent. That was probably the only truth in the article so far. "They discuss many martial arts, I doubt any of them is ancient or taught in this temple."

"I train fencing, but they knew that." Adrien continued as he read the article. "They do not mention my name, so I assume they were writing about me in this part." He continued and then he burst out laughing. "There is some crap about me learning Chinese and I do not even know what they wanted to say with this sentence it is meaningless."

All three read were laughing as Adrien was reading the endless sentence full of long words that did not have any information or meaning.

"Marinette she … " Adrien could not read aloud, translate or interpret. Soon his eyes became wet and he pulled her into a hug. She hugged him back. She did not know what was written in that stupid article that made him so sad. Or was he sad? He was crying and he held her tight, but he did not seem sad.

Adrien gave the phone to Ling and pointed to the text while he held the girl.

"The young girl who faced Hawk Moth did not spare herself one single moment. She threw herself between the villain and the others, she was willing to sacrifice herself to save the boy … blah blah blah … The depth of her feelings and devotion to the boy is obvious and judging by his reaction the feelings are mutual. We only hope this event that had made them closer will not also keep them apart … " Ling continued reading.

Adrien held Marinette tight and she held him back tighter and tighter with ever y word.


	98. Chapter 98 - Dinner Plans

Dinner plans

After relaxing teenage talk and having fun and a few revelations while reading news about themselves, Ling proposed to linger outside for a little while and enjoy the sunset colours. But the sun set behind a cloud above the mountain so the usual hue of oranges and red was cut short. Only slightly disappointed, the four teens returned to the main entrance to the temple to check if there was anything they were expected to do. Staying outside in increasing darkness and evening chill was less inviting.

When Marinette and Adrien learned they were expected to help in the kitchen for the dinner preparations, both of them decided to feed their kwami first (and hopefully let them continue their sleeping in the sleeping bag).

"I should, um, change my clothes?" Marinette motioned with her hands to show her all weather gear. She felt Tikki sensed her plan and did not fully approve as the kwami tapped her belly from the pocket where she was hiding.

"Yeah, we should definitely change before going to work in the kitchen." Adrien nodded eagerly while he felt Plagg scratched his chest.

"Oh, yes, you are right, we should change too." Ling added as she looked at Ye.

Both younger teens mentally facepalmed to that as they hoped for a little privacy with their kwami.

"So, do you have any idea what are our duties in preparing dinner?" Adrien asked cautiously because he never prepared dinner in his life, he only saw it prepared in various TV shows and he learned not to trust what he saw on TV rather early in his life.

"I have no idea." Marinette shrugged. They were never even close to the kitchen duty before. "But judging from what we got for dinner before, boiling a lot of rice in a large pot might be one of the duties."

"And making that tea too." Ling added with slightly disgusted face. "It is not bad, but that is not tea, it is more like a soup."

"A really strong and dense soup." Ye added.

"So far we have been eating food provided by the government. They did not expect the temple to have so much food stored to feed this many students." The guide spoke from their backs. "You will find the menu for this evening with the instructions and the ingredients in the kitchen."

Adrien thanked the guide while Marinette and the others simply nodded and acknowledged they took the order. They walked over to their backpacks and took off of the jackets and outer pants. Marinette felt a bit naked in just her tights and more concerned on where she would put her kwami so she took her onesie first, but then changed her mind and just took a long hoodie to put on. She gave Tikki a cookie and hid her in the front pocket of her hoodie.

Adrien had different problems. He instantly hid Plagg in his backpack and had an argument with his kwami while he pretended to search for something to wear.

"Oh, dinner, I am so hungry, you got more of that nice cheese from the village this morning, have you?" Plagg whined.

"Yes I have, here is your cheese. Please eat just this piece and not the whole stash because we need more for our way back to Lhasa." Adrien pleaded with his kwami.

"You can always take more from the kitchen downstairs." The tiny black cat like glutton retorted as he gulped the whole piece of the offered cheese in one bite.

"You glutton." Adrien rolled his eyes. "The cheese in the kitchen is for everyone in the temple, not just you."

"I am a god. Humans are supposed to offer me sacrifices. I would accept cheese." Plagg raised his tiny head to the edge of the backpack.

"Plagg, promise me you will stay here and behave." Adrien tried to sound stern while he was whispering.

"Why am I staying here while Pigtails is taking Sugarcube to the kitchen. It is not fair." The tiny black deity complained.

Adrien looked quickly towards Marinette and noticed how she sneaked a cookie in her pocket before he turned back.

"Because her kwami is nice and not a glutton like you." The boy whisper shouted into his backpack. Marinette noticed his ordeal and guessed what was the problem so she drawn the attention of her cousins and discussed idly as they tried to guess what were they supposed to prepare for the dinner and what would they like instead.

"I can be nice." Plagg played to be offended. "But you never give me a chance to show how nice I can be."

"Let me remind you. Flight. Business class cheese stash?" Adrien whispered.

"Oh, if I behave, can I have that on my way back?" Plagg's eyes were wide and shining from the backpack.

The three teens were discussing how it must be the fact that Adrien was the model that was making it hard for him to chose which clothes to wear for the kitchen and the dinner.

"Looking for a suit and a tie?" Ye teased as he tossed one of his oversized t-shirts towards Adrien.

"I will take you and you will behave. I'll get you more cheese on our way, but no sneaking out, okay?" The boy was negotiating with a glutton. Of course that was bound to fail. But that way, at least he had some kind of supervision over his kwami.

"Okay." Plagg replied as he crossed his fingers behind his back.

In the kitchen, a line up of large pots waited to be used. Several students were bringing in the fuel for the cooking. (_In Tibet they use dried yak manure to burn the heaters and even to cook on the stoves. You can imagine the government would provide coal or wood along with the food, but not necessarily._) The students who were already there set the fuel on fire and put the large pots on top and started to pour the water inside. Dorje was already there as he was overseeing the work done so far.

"You got spared of this part of the duty because of yesterday." The monk spoke quietly and the four teens sighed.

Ye instantly jumped in to help with one of the large pots while the other students were filling the first pot with water already. Ling took out her phone first eager to take a few photos before she started with work.

Marinette was relieved to be spared from the hard physical labour as she was still tired from the whole experience and she looked for the sheet of paper with instructions for the dinner preparations. She found it easily as there was a sheet of thick paper attached to the wall. She felt rather confident to be able to prepare a simple meal as she often helped her mother in the kitchen. Her clumsiness sometimes made that help rather counterproductive, but her mother always appreciated the effort. She approached the wall to read the instructions and her eyes went wide while her heart rate picked up in panic as she stared at the sheet of paper. It was in Chinese.

"Marinette" Adrien breathed so close to her ear she jumped in the spot as she turned around and flailed her arms. She hit him in the shoulder lightly in the process before he caught her hands.

"Sorry to startle you like that." Adrien apologized quietly.

"I um, it is okay, sorry." The girl stopped waving her arms around and looked down.

"I just wanted to ask you a favour. I need your help with this. I have never cooked anything in my life. I just looked at a few cooking shows. But that is just a show, on a TV, you know, I do not know if that is even real. And your uncle, I saw your uncle cooked, and I saw your father in that show with Jagged Stone and ..." Adrien was rambling while Marinette was trying to catch up with her breath and her brain with her thoughts. She raised her hand in the air lightly.

"Adrien." She spoke quietly. But he noticed her hand before he heard her voice.

"Yes? What? Tell me what to do." The boy rubbed his hands as he wanted to show he was ready to do whatever he was asked to.

"I will need your help with this." Marinette whisper shouted. Adrien frowned. How was he supposed to help her in the kitchen? "Because." She took a deep breath and pointed her hand towards the paper on the wall. "The instructions are in Chinese." She finished in exasperated whisper.

Adrien finally raised his eyes towards the offending paper on the wall and looked carefully.

"I mean, I know a few signs from my maman when she used them in her recipes, because sometimes she used the Chinese instead of French, she stopped long ago because of papa and later me, so I do know a few signs, but I might be able to recognize a few, at best, and these are probably just the ingredients and … " Marinette rambled while Adrien took his time and studied each sign carefully.

"This is not a recipe, it is probably an old paper. Here it is stressing the importance of washing our hands before preparing food, especially after the fuel is brought to the kitchen. Then there is an ode to … flour? And something about the benefit of a good cup of the Tibetan tea to fight the cold. I am not exactly sure, it is written in verses." Adrien blinked toward the paper on the wall and then towards the girl.

"It is not a recipe?" She asked with her eyebrows up.

"Nope, it is not a recipe." Adrien replied softly.

Marinette started laughing and Adrien joined her.

"Okay, I have the dinner plan for tonight." Ling waved a sheet of paper in her hands. "We are having noodles and the government had provided a lot of dried noodles so we are not even making them, just cooking them."

Adrien frowned, he was looking forward to noodles but somehow he believed he missed on something by not making them himself.

"That is okay." Marinette whispered. "Making noodles for this many people is a chore. We would need a whole day to make them and dry them slightly and then cook them."

They were in charge of filling the pots with noodles and watched over them. On the side, few monks with the help of several students fried some flour and then added the cheese brought from the village to make the additional dish for that evening. Adrien felt Plagg scratch and groan in his t-shirt. The tiny black kwami was becoming more and more annoyed about how someone could be destroying cheese in such way. Adrien was thankful for the ambient noise and loud chatter from everyone around the pots because it muffled the noises form his kwami. Marinette heard him and recognized the complaints from his shirt as well as Tikki who chirped a few teasing remarks of her own.

"They are ruining it." Plagg complained. "Stop them, just stop them before they ruin everything."

"If you stop whining, I will let you eat my portion." The boy offered to the pocket in his t-shirt while he glanced around if anyone was watching. Of course, Marinette watched and giggled at his suffering.

"I do not want it cooked or baked, I want it raw and smelly and ..." Plagg whined.

"You can enjoy the smell now and eat it later." Tikki chirped from Marinette's pocket as she was certain that the noise around would muffle the source of the conversation.

Marinette lowered her head slightly and spoke to the pocket.

"You can have my cheese portion too if you just shut up." the girl grinned and straightened up. Then she stirred the noodles once more.

Plagg fell silent and that was enough for Adrien to smile widely.

"Why is it not cooked yet?" Marinette asked the noodles. "It was supposed to be cooked minutes ago."

"It is because we are in high altitude." Adrien smiled. "Water boils at a lower temperature here than in Paris, so tea was finished early and the water for the noddles boiled early, but it takes longer time for the noodles to become cooked if they are boiled in low temperatures."

Marinette blinked at him a few times.

"Ms Mendeleev taught that in class." She furrowed her brows as she remembered that particular part was actually taught.

"Yes, and now you have it in practice." Adrien grinned back proudly.

"Um, so how much longer should I cook them at this altitude?" Marinette looked at the noodles and resisted the urge to mix them the whole time.

"I don't have a clue for how long we should cook them, I don't have a clue about cooking, remember?" Adrien shrugged.

"But haven't you just ..." Marinette trailed off with an exasperated sigh.

Adrien smirked and then gave her a lopsided grin.

"Okay, if you do not know when it is cooked, then you will have to try them." She said and fished out one noodle. She blew on it a few times to cool it down before she offered it to Adrien to try.

"I think these could use a few more minutes." Adrien replied as he smiled back and Marinette blushed as she realized she just fed him and he ate from her hand.

"Ahem" could be heard from Adrien's pocket.

"Yes?" Adrien asked while Marinette frowned.

"I thought you were supposed to be quiet, Plagg" could be heard from Marinette's pocket.

"Perhaps you should ask to try if that cheese stuff is ready too?" Plagg proposed timidly.

Two teens and a kwami laughed their hearts out while Plagg groaned quietly how nobody understands him and his love for cheese and how it smelled so nicely while it was cooked and it was pure suffering because he could smell it but not eat it and so on and so forth until he got shushed quiet by the two teens.

Adrien and Marinette were quickly filling the bowls with noodles and handed them out. Adrien had to admit it was a hard job to do. The boy was hungry and yet his job was to fill all the bowls and make more for the second round. He looked at the noodles. They looked tasty to the hungry boy and yet he had to give each bowl away. He watched each bowl with his hungry eyes. Once the queue of hungry students dispersed, they were relieved by two monks who offered to take their duty until they ate something.

Both kids looked at them gratefully as they went to their usual place and joined Marinette's cousins while they ate.

"Noodles, finally." Adrien exclaimed before he dug into his food.

"That is because you were the cook today." Ye teased back and all four of them laughed between taking bites of food.

Adrien felt Plagg squirm in his pocket. He forgot to take the piece made with cheese. The tiny glutton will not let him forget that soon. Marinette looked at the boy worriedly. Adrien pointed to his bowl and then his pocket. Marinette understood what was missing and looked at her bowl tiredly. She took one long frustrated breath and huffed. She forgot to take the cheese too.

Their saviour plopped down beside them quickly. Dorje brought one small plate with the cheese, there were several pieces of fresh cheese. He put the small plate down between Adrien and himself and let the boy sneak a few pieces into his pocket one by one.

Plagg finally enjoyed his cheese and kept quiet although he was tempted to tease the two teens, especially when they returned to the kitchen to finish their duty.


	99. Chapter 99 - Pack the box

Pack the box

The dinner was finished and eaten, the students were called to go to sleep early as they were expected to start walking early the next morning. Marinette and Adrien knew their job was not finished, but full stomach and tired teens fell asleep quickly. They did not sleep for long. Pema was there to wake them up and take them back to talk to the teacher and take the miracle box.

"Wake up, Princess." Adrien whispered as he rubbed his eyes open and then was surprised by the fact that there was barely anything to see in almost complete darkness.

Marinette hummed in response but did not move at all.

"Come on." Adrien reached for her and straightened her. "I want to take the kwami for a walk once before we go." The boy was excited about meeting the little creatures. Plagg was probably slightly jealous because the boy felt slightly painful scratch under his onesie.

"Five more minutes." Marinette whispered as the boy was picking her up and raising her to her feet.

"Nope, we go, now." Adrien grinned as he supported her while she moved her feet forward.

When they finally reached the small room, Marinette was able to walk on her own and rubbed her eyes open to actually see where she was going.

The small room was lit up by a single candle, again, but the white walls made the room look much brighter. They moved a thick curtain when they entered and the candle light flickered and everything looked as if it was moving although everyone was perfectly still for a moment. The two teens were met by Tenzin and Dolma, Pema followed them inside and Dorje appeared at the door after everyone sat down. The young monk carried several parcels. Adrien quickly guessed that was the food for the kwami.

"We wanted to discuss what is to be done with the peacock and butterfly miraculous." Dolma spoke solemnly.

Marinette replied with one firm nod. She stared at the miracle box sleepily. She did not forget about the problem, she only let it slip her mind for a few hours, and it was fun to let her problems slide off her mind for a while, she felt so rested, so recovered, except now she would prefer to sleep, but she had a decision to make.

"Well, would they recover faster if I leave them here or if I keep them in the box?" Marinette asked the simple question she did not know the answer to.

"We do not know." Tenzin replied with a smile.

"Why do you want them to recover as fast as possible?" Dolma inquired.

Marinette pondered on her answer to that question. At first, she thought it was obvious, one should recover as quickly as possible and go back to … whatever they were supposed to do before they got sick. But was there really a need for Nooroo and Duusu to recover that quickly? Then she looked at Tikki who floated out from her onesie and Plagg who sat on Adrien's shoulder and looked at her with his green eyes glowing in the dark. Both kwami showed concern for their fellows and Marinette remembered how much Tikki missed her friends.

"I just want them to be well." Marinette stated simply. She was not trying to elaborate. She knew the other kwami missed Nooroo and Duusu, but that did not seem as a reason that would be good enough for Dolma.

"We are their guardians now?" Adrien asked quietly. All four monks replied with one firm nod. "Then we will put the brooch and the pin in the miracle box and take it with us." The boy replied as if that was the most obvious solution in the world.

Tenzin nodded, Dolma frowned. Pema and Dorje looked at each other and then smiled. Adrien felt proud of himself, but then he noticed Tikki was concerned about his proposal and Plagg quietly groaned on his shoulder.

"The temple had drained their energy. Can they get it back from the temple?" Marinette looked at Tenzin as she expected he was the one who would be able to provide an answer, but surprisingly, what followed was a brief discussion between Pema and Dorje that consisted mostly of shrugs and looks instead of words.

"We consider the two of you trained as wielders and … and trained as guardians too" Pema started to speak but then she paused as she contemplated how to continue. Dolma took a deep breath and huffed. Tenzin stroked his beard. Dorje waved his head.

"This might work, but you would have to wield them too for a while." Tenzin continued in place of Pema and she had to translate but she took it as approval to at least explain the possible plan.

"Dorje and me can try to transfer the energy back." She continued but Dorje waved his head again.

"Will that drain you?" Marinette asked quickly.

"Yes." All four monks answered.

"And you too." Tenzin added with raised eyebrows.

"Then we are not doing it." Adrien replied firmly while Marinette looked at him and then nodded that she agreed with his decision.

"We do not want to drain your energy." The girl added to confirm that.

All four monks relaxed.

"Then you will take them and wait for them to recover." Dolma spoke solemnly as if the matter was finished. "I wish you peace and tranquillity on your journey and in your future endeavours." The elderly monk got up and everyone else stood to their feet as she slowly proceeded out from the room. Then she suddenly stopped and turned around just before she got out. "I was truly honoured to meet such strong young and determined wielders as you have proven to be and I only hope you will be the protective and shielding guardians as I expect from you."

"Thank you for you kind words." Marinette replied simply once Adrien provided her the translation.

"Thank you for trusting us." Adrien added.

"It was the least I could do after you brought us back." The elderly woman smiled with a wide smile and then swiftly turned around and left before the moment of weakness overtook her and she showed even more affection.

Tenzin stroked his beard with an amused smile.

"Just one piece of advice." He raised his hand. "If you try to bring Nooroo and Duusu back, as you already did once, keep in mind that you might have to wield them for some time for them to recover. That would mean you would be wielding two miraculous each for some time." The teacher spoke slowly and stopped as he waited for his words to sink in.

"And that will drain our own energy." Marinette concluded.

All three monks nodded to confirm her conclusion.

"That is okay because we will not have to fight an akuma per day." Adrien muttered to Marinette.

"If you choose someone else to wield a miraculous." Tenzin continued. "You are now trained guardians and it is your choice if you want to reveal your identity to the wielder. But untrained wielders should not know the identities of each other, and preferably yours too."

Marinette sighed and looked at Adrien.

"Remember how master Fu first gave us our miraculous and we did not even know who he was?" Marinette asked.

"Yeah, how did you learn about him anyway?" Adrien asked as he tried to remember.

"Tikki took me to him when I retrieved the Book of Lore from the trash can." Marinette reminded him as she tried to avoid mentioning his father and Lila in the same sentence.

Adrien tried to look at Plagg who was still on his shoulder, but Plagg only looked down.

"Okay, what was done was done." Tikki sighed quietly.

"You are right." Marinette smiled as she wanted to cheer up Adrien. "Which kwami do you want to meet now?" That was a good change of subject and should keep the boy busy and away from gloomy thoughts.

"The Monkey and the Horse?" Adrien smiled. Marinette sighed but nodded. "And Fluff, I want to meet Fluff too." The boy added quickly.

"Good, but I will take the watch, Fluff and Xuppu together might be a bit too much." Marinette smiled.

In the end, Marinette only took Fluff and Mullo as she was already tired.

"Marinette, you might want to take Wayzz and Sass, they will help you keep the other kwami in check." Tikki reminded the girl.

"Right" Marinette replied as she took the bracelet first and Wayzz appeared.

"Good evening master." Wayzz greeted with a smile as the tiny kwami bowed.

"Good evening Wayzz." Marinette smiled.

Adrien took the other bracelet first.

"Good evening master." Sass bowed to Adrien.

"Good evening Sass." Adrien smiled. He liked this guardian duty. Dorje passed him some food for the kwami and Sass thanked him gratefully, but before the tiny snake proceeded to eat he floated up to the lever of the faces of the two teens.

Marinette already put on the pendant necklace and Mullo appeared.

"You might be interested to know that we sensed the presence of Nooroo and Duusu in the miracle box, but they have not appeared yet." Sass spoke quietly. All humans thanked him for the good news.

Soon Fluff was jumping around, Kaalki chased her relentlessly and Xuppu was doing an excellent business of making a fool of himself and having everyone laugh at him.

"I want to learn everything there is to know about you." Adrien smiled to Xuppu. "About all the kwami."

"I am afraid you will only learn about the contents of that particular box." Tenzin smiled as he stroked his beard.

"There are other miraculous stones and other miracle boxes." Pema smiled.

"Some of them work only inside the temple." Dorje added.

"While you should not wield us inside the temple." Sass warned.

"Oh I learned about that part." Adrien smiled back.

Xuppu was bouncing off the walls and from time to time landed on his head or any other random body part, but he always bounced back up. Adrien had to remember that he was also a tiny god and could actually phase through solid objects.

"What will we do now that Hawk Moth and Mayura are defeated?" Xuppu said as he balanced on his head and then jumped back up and floated straight into Adrien's face.

"Oh, I don't know." Adrien replied too quickly. But then he remembered and his face changed completely. Marinette lowered her eyes before she looked back at Xuppu.

"Well, we have to deal with some sentimonsters left over after the previous wielders and retrieve the Book of Lore back." the girl smiled as she spoke quietly to Xuppu, she did not want Adrien to hear her but he heard her all the same.

"We will take you to see your mother in the morning." Tenzin said quietly.

Adrien stared at the empty space before him. He forgot about his mother, well he forgot about the body of his mother, about what was left of her. He forgot about her for most of the time during this whole day and yet she was in this temple, as far as he knew. Or better yet, he did not forget, he just pushed it to the back of his mind.

"That is, unless you insist on seeing her now." Tenzin added quietly. "Because that could be done."

Adrien waved his head. He was tired and wanted to sleep. He did not want to burden himself with the thought of tasks that still waited for him to be done. The boy also did not want to cling to the body of his mother. He felt there was only and empty shell and decided to trust his guts. But he was willing to see her one more time before he left. It might be the last time he saw her. He wanted to say goodbye and make his closure.

"I do not have to see her this moment, but I'd like to see her before we leave." Adrien replied.

Tenzin smiled back.

"Tell me, please. When I saw her before, I felt that there is only an empty shell, that there is only her body, have any of you felt anything different?" The boy asked quietly. He suppressed to much hope from his voice, but still there was something left.

"I am sorry, but no." Tenzin replied calmly. Dorje and Pema simply waved their heads. Marinette held his hand and squeezed.

Xuppu hopped around, Fluff evaded Kaalki and all three kwami were annoyed by apparently sour mood that the conversation turned to.

"Hey, you two are both guardians now?" Xuppu said knowingly and there was tease in his voice.

Both teens nodded to confirm.

"Yes Xuppu. We share the duty." Marinette added.

"Don't you dare ..." Tikki started as she floated over to the monkey.

"So you two are together now?" Xuppu teased, his eyebrows moving suggestively, his tail flicked back and forth.

Both teens flushed. Plagg snickered. Tikki groaned.

"Yes." the monkey shaped kwami exclaimed and hopped around. "You are so young and so in love and so ready to share everything." The tiny monkey dragged the last word as he spoke.

Both teens were obviously not comfortable with the teasing.

Pema looked at Tenzin and then back at the two teens. She wanted to speak but Dorje took her hand and put an index finger in front of his mouth.

It did not take long for Fluff to pick up.

"I really like these two and I'm glad they like each other, but why are they so shy about each other?" Fluff said bluntly.

Kaalki finally caught Fluff and they rolled in the air together.

"Got you." Kaalki gloated.

"We have something more important here." Fluff replied.

"Yes, we have to tease these two until their faces are set on fire." Xuppu added.

"I think we should feed them and put them back into the box." Marinette told Adrien once she was able to speak again.

"I agree." Wayzz finally spoke.

Sass and Wayzz had silent exchange between themselves and Tenzin. Apparently they reached a conclusion and agreed that the teacher was the one to speak.

The two teens said goodbyes to the kwami and removed the jewels and put them into the box.

"This is important to repeat." Tenzin continued. "You have to share the duty and you have to continue to work as one and hide your identities. It is not wise to reveal them."

Adrien agreed quickly and only then turned to Marinette. She was still processing information that Pema told her.

"It is important that the two of you remain together when you return to Paris." Pema continued. "You do not have to live together or something like that." The woman understood that might be an issue. "But you have to remain close."

"They are married now." Dorje added with a smirk on his face. Pema rolled her eyes. Adrien blushed and Marinette pretended she did not understand what the young monk just said.

The three monks got up to their feet.

"We will say our farewell in the morning, before you leave." Tenzin said warmly.

"We will walk with you part of the way." Pema said on behalf of Dorje and herself.

Adrien took the box from the floor.

"This is going into my backpack now, I can't believe you carried that all the way here and never asked me to help." The boy scolded her gently.

"Well, you can carry it now." Marinette smiled as they both proceeded to pack it to the bottom of his backpack and bury it under the clothes.

Adrien cuddled Marinette closer. He was becoming aware that was not going to be so normal once they return. But they were told to remain close, and he was determined to obey that order.


	100. Chapter 100 - Farewell

Farewell

The wake up call arrived before the morning. The guide took it as her responsibility to have everyone on their feet while the large room was still in the dark.

"Wrap up your sleeping bags, change and pack up your backpacks." She was issuing orders while she strolled between the students with her flash light. Students were in random states of preparedness, few of them changed quickly and went to grab something for breakfast, but forgot to wrap up their sleeping bags or pack, others were obediently packing or went to the bathroom to change, few have slept in their clothes and had just the sleeping bag to wrap up. One of them was Ling who either slept, or more likely, pretended to be asleep.

Marinette and Adrien were quick because they chose to put the wet gear over their onesies and wrap up their bag so bot young teens were ready for breakfast while Ling was still ine her sleeping bag and Ye disappeared towards the bathroom.

"Come on Ling" Marinette was trying to wake up her cousin while Adrien was wrapping their sleeping bag. There was no response. "Wake up. We have to go" She nudged the other girl lightly on the shoulder and got a groan in response.

"We have to get some breakfast." Marinette continued.

"You can go, I am awake." The older teen mumbled and turned around.

"We have to go, Marinette." Adrien whispered to her ear.

"You go and say your goodbyes to all the monks for me." Ling muttered sleepily and Marinette finally jumped to her feet.

"Do not forget, you have to eat before you go. No sleeping in." The guide reminded from somewhere in the middle of the large room.

Two young teens went to fetch their breakfast. They were about to walk the whole day and knew better than to start hungry. There was some fried pastry as well as noodles and rice and young people were not counting their calories, especially since they were facing a huge physical effort and were not certain how much food will they eat before the evening.

Adrien had different worries. He took the food and ate quickly, but his brain was somewhere else. How was he to sneak out and see his mother (or what was left of her). His bowl was empty and he stared in the empty space before him.

Marinette quickly formed an excuse that she will take him to thank 'those two monks' who helped them and perhaps persuade them to use 'the modern communication technologies' to continue their communication in the future.

Ling just arrived to breakfast and returned a raised eyebrow while Ye simply waved them away and returned to his food. It was too early for anyone to notice anything odd.

"Your loss, you will be hungry." The boy replied after he swallowed his food.

Adrien quickly got to his feet and took the empty bowl to dispose it while Marinette have not finished the food she got so she was eating and walking when they finally ran into Dorje and Pema in the corridor towards the kitchen.

"Good morning, we have an early morning meeting for you." Pema greeted as she was trying to be cheerful. Dorje did not hide a gloomy shade from his face.

"I thought you two were to wake us up early for this." Adrien smiled sheepishly after the morning greetings.

"I made the most stupid excuse and we left from breakfast." Marinette added as she looked at the two monks.

"It was not stupid, they should learn how to use a phone, we might need them." Adrien cut in as he watched Marinette.

Both monks looked at them then at each other and there were several different emotions exchanged in their facial expressions. Pema raised an eyebrow and smirked. Dorje huffed and rolled his eyes, but both of them kept silent. This was obviously a subject they discussed before.

"Don't worry, we will." Pema said with a smile.

"One day." Dorje added with a smirk.

"Soon." She stared him down, which was silly because he was so much taller than everyone else. They walked down a narrow corridor and continued to exchange one word sentenced teasing each other. But the banter stopped as soon as they entered the room where Emilie's body was laid down.

"I brought her here, we do not keep the body in the temple but in a small cave where we usually do. It is very close." Dorje shifted from one foot to another.

There was one candle to lit up the room and it gave a warm glow to Emilie's hair and face. She remained the same as the first time they saw her in that basement.

Adrien kneeled closer to her body.

"Hi maman." He greeted. "I did not have a chance to speak with you earlier." The boy continued quietly. "I'm sorry for everything that happened." He took a deep breath and exchanged a look with Marinette. She mouthed 'it was not your fault' and then offered a small smile. The boy turned back to the body of his mother and continued. "I feel like I have to apologize although it is not my fault. I do not actually know what happened. You never told me anything about the miraculous. Father never told me anything. I have so many questions. And now, I think I will never have a chance to get those answers. I believe I deserve those answers, but I am not about to waste my life looking for those answers. I will live my life the best I can. For me." He took a deep breath. At one point during his speech, Dorje put a hand on his shoulder. Marinette was on his side and he took her hand.

"I wish I knew about Felix. You cheated me. I thought he was my cousin. I thought he was a child. I played with him. But in the end he is ..." the boy left the sentence unfinished. He rambled quickly and nobody tried to stop him.

"Why have you done that, mother? Why have you given the miraculous and the book to father? Was that how you … got together?" The boy wanted to ask 'was that how you seduced him?' but changed his mind at the last moment as the words did not sit with him well. "Is anyone in our family able to handle loss reasonably? Was aunt Amelie really so torn for her loss that creating Felix was the only solution?"

He was taking quick deep breaths between the sentences and continued to speak quickly.

"Forget about my questions. I do not even want to know the answers to most of them. I just know I want to survive this and stay a normal person. I do not want to become a monster like father. I do not want to create monsters so I would feel better either." He pondered for a while. "I want to be and live like a normal person. I never asked to be a celebrity, I did not want to be famous, I did not ask to be a face of a brand. You were before you became like this and instantly that meant I had to be in your absence."

Adrien made a small break in his rambling and Marinette squeezed his hand harder. This reminded the boy of the girl by his side.

"This is Marinette. She makes me feel loved." Marinette felt her eyes water up. Adrien was already crying, but his voice was steady as he continued to speak quickly and quietly. "Her parents have showed me how parents treat their child. She does not have to be a baker. Yeah she helps out in the family business, but she does not have to make it her life."

Then he took a few breaths to calm down. Because it all got mixed up. The sadness, the anger were the strongest.

"She makes me happy maman. And we had to fight father and Nathalie. He went nuts because of you, because you are like this. Because I think you are gone. Because what is left is an empty shell. Father wanted you back. He wanted life back in this shell." Adrien took a shaky breath.

"He only ever cared about the shell I maintained for the public, for him, for everyone. But inside me, he never cared what was inside me. She cared." Adrien motioned towards Marinette.

"I promise I will be a good student and a good person. Well, as good as I can be." He actually smirked. "But I will do what makes me happy, not what I think would make you or papa happy." The boy continued.

He just spilled all his thoughts and his soul out without particular plan or order. He had no plan, no intention on particular meaning or words he wanted to say. It was not as if his mother was able to hear him, understand or respond. This speech was for him. Those were the words he felt like he wanted them said at that particular moment.

"I love you maman." He finally spoke after a long pause. "I accept you did what you did but it does not have to make me happy or ashamed. That was your choice. I am making my own choices."

Then he took a long breath and got to his feet.

Marinette was not sure what to say or do so she simply got to her feet and followed whatever Adrien was doing.

He turned to face Dorje who was only half a step behind the boy.

"If she is dead, and I think she is, I want you to bury her." Adrien whispered. "I can pay for the funeral." He added as he felt it was necessary. But the monk waved his head as if he wanted to say that was not needed.

Finally it was time to say goodbyes to the monks. Pema waved her head for them to leave the small room and Emilie's body and say their goodbyes somewhere else.

Dorje took the two kids to the other room where Tenzin was waiting for them. Everyone was wiping the tears from their faces but there were relieved smiles on their faces as they saw Adrien felt more at peace.

"You have arrived." Tenzin spoke solemnly the same sentence he said as he met the boy for the first time.

Marinette and Adrien sat down and bowed their heads slightly.

"We have." Adrien replied.

Marinette nodded again.

"And now you are leaving the temple." Tenzin stroked his beard lightly. There was a strange glow in his eyes and soon both teens recognizes there were some tears forming too. But their eyes were already teary from their previous encounter.

"We are going back home. Back to Paris." Marinette whispered quietly.

Adrien took her hand and looked at her. Whatever home was he was about to make one. His home was with her, wherever she went.

"You have done your training here." Tenzin said quietly. "But your training is not finished." He warned. Marinette stared at the old man. What he mean by this. "The training never is. There is always something new to discover, something to learn."

Adrien translated quietly and Marinette nodded to affirm she agreed.

"Because learning is a process that lasts a lifetime." Tenzin concluded.

"We learned something from you too. We learned from both of you." The teacher said with a smile. "Now we expect you to be good guardians of the miracle box. You can come back to us before you are adults for few more lessons on the other miraculous, but you will discover your new powers in time by yourself."

"I have to ask, I know the person who will wield the rabbit miraculous." Marinette spoke quietly.

"You should train her carefully and we would prefer to meet her and test her too." Tenzin replied calmly. "But we trust your decision and your ability to train."

Marinette raised her eyes.

"The same goes for the wielder of the horse miraculous." Tenzin continued. "If you chose a more permanent wielder."

Adrien nodded and then him and Marinette exchanged a look.

"Alix can come back here with her father." Marinette whispered.

"But what about Max?" Adrien asked. It was Alix's father who had found the Feast sentimonster, and one could easily imagine he could come back to continue his work.

"You can come back here by teleportation to the same cave we used before." Dorje whispered. "But that location is a secret and should not be revealed to just anyone. We have to protect it and the temple."

"Of course." Both teens confirmed they understood. There were plenty of secrets left to keep.

They said their goodbyes and got to their feet.

In the large hall they picked up their stuff quickly. The two of them were the last to leave. They walked through the empty space and looked around, it was so different without the bustle of the students, quiet and still. At the main entrance, they took their shoes and put them on their feet. They could see the layer of snow that covered the ground and was carried by strong wind outside the temple when they looked out through the main door. The thin layer of snow fell over night. The skies were cloudy and the wind that reached their faces was strong and cold. The students outside were huddled together and walked away as they were arranged in groups how they would walk further.

Both of them stepped out from the temple into the snow as the wind quickly carried the snow around and filled in the traces made by the students before them.

The moment both teens were out from the temple, Dorje and Pema both unlatched the heavy wooden door and it shut loudly as the wind slammed it shut more fiercely that any human intended.

Everyone turned around and looked at the two teens.

There was a strange silent moment during which everyone stared at them. Marinette straightened up under the weight of her small and now mostly empty backpack and the sleeping bag. Adrien squared his shoulders and looked before him.

They did not have to look at each other. They knew what the other felt. They were heroes, they were wielders of Ladybug and Chat Noir miraculous. They were also the guardians. They knew who they were. One deep breath of the clear cold mountain air cleared their minds. Finally, they took their determined steps forward to join the rest.


	101. Chapter 101 - Walking The High Plains

Walking the high plains

Adrien and Marinette stepped out from the temple followed by the loud clang produced by the temple door as is slammed shut fiercely pushed by the wind force. The said wind swept the snow around their feet and evened out the traces left by the students before them. As the wind raised the snow from the ground and then filled the holes, the surface they walked on looked much smoother than it actually was.

The guide was there, at the edge of the cliff as she counted if she had all the students on the move. Ling and Ye were there, silent, they waited close to the steps that lead down the cliff. They felt there was something going on that they did not understand but they also knew better than to pry. The guide saw the last two leave the temple door and gave one firm nod and started to descend down the cliff carefully one step at the time and the students followed.

The howling of the wind was loud and the snowflakes that rose from the ground blinded them from time to time, so that the two teens felt as if they were alone on the top of the cliff. They adjusted their caps and pulled up the hoods on their jackets to protect themselves from the wind. Their shoulders squared and their hearts beaten hard as they bravely walked into the storm. Walking out in the bad weather was never easy and they knew they were expected to walk the whole day outside.

At one moment Adrien took Marinette's hand. But the wind was cold and their hands started to feel cold too, especially when the wind pushed the cold air up their sleeves and jackets. Adrien adjusted his blue scarf and smiled at the girl who was struggling with the hood of her jacket as it kept falling off her head, pushed by the wind. She finally managed to button up the two buttons in front of her hood to keep it on her head. But her fingers were frozen. Adrien fetched the mittens for both of them from the backpack and helped her put them on.

Finally they gave up holding hands as they both tucked their hands in their pockets to feel their kwami snuggled there, away from the cold. Plagg phased a few layers inside to a warmer layer of clothing and snored. Adrien laughed to himself. The cheese pieces in his cold outer jacket were intact. There was something that could deter the tiny glutton from a cheese stash. Marinette petted Tikki in her front pocket and nudged her towards a small bundle of fabric to keep her warm.

Ling and Ye let Adrien and Marinette walk at the end of the group, but they were soon joined by Dorje and Pema. The two monks were wrapped up in thick woollen fabric to keep warm but it was obvious it did not work as well as more modern gear.

"We will walk with you only until the village." Pema whispered through her trembling lips. The last week was exhausting for the two monks too. They were not used to daily fights with akuma and admired the two young teens. The boys life had turned upside down and they both discussed if it was a good decision to let them go back to their world so soon. But Adrien acted so confident, he was shaken by the whole experience but he never crumbled under the weight of their discoveries. Perhaps it was because he took one at a time and recovered quickly enough to be ready for the next shock.

So they talked quietly as they descended the cliff steps. The monks were not very talkative at first, they observed both teens carefully and looked for any sign of insecurity. There was none, they both kept their heads high, the only thing that bothered them was cold wind. Less observant person might interpret that as a sign of insecurity, but it was just cold, and both kids faced that as they faced any other obstacle so far.

Once they were way down the cliff, the wind felt slightly weaker and it was less cold than before. Adrien felt as if they were leaving friends behind. They chatted with the monks about the weather of all things, as if they were strangers who met for the first time, but the weather around them kept pushing itself as the main subject of the talk. The monks wanted to go further after the two young wielders, but decided that it was smarter not to spend too much time outside in that weather if not absolutely needed.

Marinette turned to Pema and discussed what will both of them do next. The young woman was overwhelmed by everything that happened during that week. She admitted that having the duty of the temple guardian was sometimes hard as she saw how other people lived around the world (or at least part of Asia) before she arrived, but she also felt protected and appreciated by everyone in the temple, and most of all she was regarded for her values not for her looks.

After a while they moved to lighter subjects and joined the conversation between Dorje and Adrien. They teased each other and in the end both monks promised to try and get at least one phone that they could use to communicate. Because Adrien kept 'horsing around' and making other horse puns as he suggested that he intended to teleport himself (and Marinette too) to the temple on the first occasion he found fit. Marinette was probably the only one who took him seriously, as she constantly reminded him that they should not use the kwami for selfish reasons.

"It is not selfish, it is called education." Adrien teased back. Marinette regularly rolled her eyes at his antics.

The cold air made them walk faster and they soon caught up with the rest of the group. The two monks started saying their goodbyes and all four of them had tears in their eyes (which was unpleasant because the cold air tended to freeze them but the fresh warm tears kept flowing out). Adrien wanted to mention using the services of Kaalki again but resisted as he was not sure how much could Marinette's cousins hear just a few meters in front of them.

Finally, they reached the small village made of tents and it was time for hugs and goodbyes. The guide assembled the group there, few students went to purchase more food for the walk.

The time has arrived to say the final goodbye to the two monks. Now they were joined by Marinette's cousins who spent much less time with them, but they still fought the same fight and that made them much closer. It was impossible to hide the tears, but nobody even tried. Ling was talking the whole time while the tears rolled down her face. But nothing she said made any sense. Ye was completely silent while Marinette and Adrien just repeated 'Thank you' with each breath they took.

Finally, the teens had to turn and walk away. Their feet felt heavy and the burden they carried was suddenly enlarged by the feeling of leaving two friends behind. As they continued to walk, it was hard to pick up the pace, but they had to to catch up with the group. When they turned, the two monks were still there, watching over them as the teens walked away.

They stumbled over their own feet in turns. Marinette almost fell to the ground, but Adrien caught her forearm and helped her steady herself. He even offered to take the sleeping bag and carry it, but the girl refused.

Ye kept blaming the ice and claimed his loss of balance was due to slippery surfaces he kept finding under the snow (but nobody else had similar issues).

Ling blamed the gusts of strong wind that pushed and made her loose her balance, the girl flailed her hands and managed to keep herself on her feet, but the next time she turned around, the same gust of wind made her flail her arms again to catch her balance.

Adrien did not even pretend there were any outside reasons for him to trip on his own feet, but the practice he had walking on the catwalk helped that he remained his balance and direction with the least effort. The tears in his eyes did not help him see where he was going, but he concentrated on following the group and pushing his feet one in front of another and he was moving forward.

Marinette kept lagging behind and then quickly running after the rest of the group, which of course resulted in her tripping and catching her balance at the last moment. At one moment, Adrien caught her arm by her elbow and kept holding her. He prevented her from turning around once more and forced her to walk in more steady rhythm.

They both felt the same emptiness because they were leaving the new found friends behind. When they stayed in the temple, they finally felt normal, because they found a whole group of other people who knew about their secret and who were eager to help, with their deeds and advice.

Adrien walked as if he had became a robot. Because his mind stopped controlling his body, save the hand that held onto Marinette. His eyes were trained on the people before him and his feet moved, but his mind was somewhere else. He held the girl beside him more to anchor himself than to keep her from falling. To say his life had turned upside down since the time he walked towards the temple would be and understatement. Everything had changed. Including the weather.

He counted each and every single revelation he had during his days and nights in the temple. But then, suddenly he realized one more thing. Not much had changed, he just learned a few things, a few important things, but as a consequence, he became aware that his cold and distant family had been, in fact, non-existent the whole time.

The only really new thing was that Hawk Moth was defeated, everything else existed before, he just did not know about it. And he made new friends. He was going back better off than he was when he arrived. Because could he really say he lost his father? Was that something that he was supposed to count as a loss? His mind and heart had tricked him before, because he imagined his father and Nathalie were getting closer. That idea did not abandon him even after he learned his father was Hawk Moth. Everything he had was an illusion, and the world looked much better without that layer in his life, more real and more scary, but better.

His father was Hawk Moth. Everybody knew. What was awaiting him once he returned to Paris? Being a celebrity was hard on him, but at least until now he was a celebrity for something positive. He was now known for he was a son of a criminal, a terrorist, a villain. He used to be rich and never had to care about how much something cost. Was there anything left of that for him? He glanced towards the girl by his side.

Marinette sensed he was worried. Although the cold wind kept them silent most of the way. She felt the urge to speak, to tell him everything was going to be okay. She smiled and shyly offered her hand once he released her forearm. He took it.

That reassured him. He had her. He had Ladybug, Marinette. A small smile adorned his face. Whatever was awaiting him, he was going to take it with her by his side.

At one point, they reached the rest of the group. They were setting up their small gas cookers to make some tea or noodles.

"We are progressing very slow today." The guide complained as she walked around groups of students making tea and dried noodles.

Ye already lighted up a small cooker and Ling filled the metal vessel with water from the stream nearby. She said she brought enough water to make tea and noodles for all four and they sat around the cooker.

"How are you doing?" Ye asked Adrien quietly.

"It is okay, less load on the way back." Adrien rolled his shoulders after he removed the backpack from his shoulders.

Marinette eyed him carefully as she offered him to sit on their rolled sleeping bag without using words. He smiled and sat down but then he pulled her to sit by his side and held her close. There was the same small smile on his face.

"Um, that was not what I was asking." The older boy sighed when he got the first answer and muttered to himself, after he observed the two youngsters he took a deep breath. "You know, um, you will not be able to have Marinette as your safety cushion the whole time."

Ling glared at Ye for a moment. "He has some time before we reach the civilisation, let him have it." She waved her head. They both looked at the boy with worried eyes, but he did not notice that, Marinette did. Adrien looked to the snow that was falling with a small smile on his face and pretended that there was only him and her and the students around in this beautiful landscape covered with snow.


	102. Chapter 102 - Flying Through Snow

Flying through snow

Adrien stared at the falling snow and held Marinette in his arms. Nothing else existed, no fake news, no tabloids, no villains, nothing. The wind subsided and there were few snowflakes lingering in the air and slowly settling down. It was Marinette who nudged him out of his trance because she went to prepare their food on the cooker.

They were cut off from the world and from the media, but that morning Ye and Ling have stumbled on some web pages that were dumping only tabloid kind of news, something clickable and sensational, filled with commercials on the sides of the page with nasty and barely plausible texts.

"Do you have any plan how to deal with the news?" Ling whispered to the girl while she stirred the noodles in the bowl over the fire.

"Why? What is wrong?" Marinette whispered.

Adrien did not move at all.

"You have not been reading the news this morning?" Ye asked quietly with apparent relief in his words.

"No" Marinette whispered and waved her head.

"You have been reading the tabloids?" Adrien asked quietly. "Don't. It is not healthy."

"We were looking for stories about us." Ling replied apologetically. They had fun while they read only the part related to them, but it was a different story once they read about Adrien and Marinette.

"They don't know you. They have tons of material about him … and me." Adrien spoke quietly. "Tons of photos." He took a deep breath.

"Is it bad?" Marinette asked timidly.

Her cousins nodded in response.

"It is actually stupid. Nobody who knows you at all should be able to believe that." Ye said with a note of disgust in his voice.

"I am a minor, my legal representative should handle it." The boy replied matter of factly.

"Is she good?" Marinette implored.

"Nobody is that good. But ..." Adrien took out his phone. "I have not checked my phone this morning."

"There is no signal here." Ling waved her head.

"The messages that arrived while we were up there in the temple should be stored on it." He said and opened the stored messages from his legal guardian.

"She actually bothered to ask me for approval to confirm officially to the media it was me fighting my father. She already did with the police. She had to." Adrien smiled. "She is sorry she did that without consulting me first and she actually bothered to ask." He exhaled slowly.

"What will you answer?" Ling asked.

"I will let her handle that. But she will have to wait for me to get a signal." He smirked. The boy was annoyed that he was put under supervision of another adult, and this was a person he never met. But he started to accept her.

"You have not notified her where you are?" Ye asked incredulously.

Adrien waved his head in response. "She has the numbers of all your parents and my bodyguard. I doubt she doesn't know already."

They finished their instant noodles, washed the dishes in the stream, filled the bottles with water and continued walking. Adrien put away the phone, he was glad to be cut off from the world, to be away from the media and any other means of communication. Suddenly he realized he was the only one in their group who had any experience with dealing with the media. And that was so far always organized by someone else. He had a lot to learn, but he also had something to teach.

Adrien fixed the backpack on his back and felt the miracle box on the bottom. Marinette noticed his move and took a deep breath. She felt Tikki patted her belly under her clothes. Plagg scratched Adrien on his chest as he fastened one belt from the backpack over his belly.

Marinette gave him a confident smile, he returned his Chat Noir grin. They were Ladybug and Chat Noir. They were going into this together.

"I do not know what my parents replied to your legal representative, but she can confirm my identity too." Marinette smiled. "I mean, you know which identity, right?" She whispered worriedly just after.

Adrien started laughing out loud as he stared at her. He could not ask out loud nor tease her.

"You really thought she asked me to confirm I was a cat?" Adrien whispered to her ear.

Marinette laughed with him.

"Okay, so what is your plan mister famous supermodel? How do we handle this?" Marinette teased.

"Yes, teach us how to be famous." Ling stroke a pose while she walked. The pose included an oversize backpack with a sleeping bag on top and her excessive breathing to compensate for walking at high altitude, the scene was funny.

"How do we deal with all those paparazzi that will be chasing after us?" Ye joined the teasing. He took a small stone from the path and threw it to the side and watched how it bounced from other rocks before it finally rolled on the ground.

"As much as I'd like to deal with some people that way." Adrien pointed towards the stone. "I am afraid that kind of interaction is not observed kindly."

Marinette snorted. Ling rolled her eyes. Ye took another stone.

"No? Really? I thought I am having nice practice." He threw the stone again and it bounced off one stone before it rolled away.

"so, what would you recommend?" Ling inquired.

"Ignore them, get a team of lawyers and public relations people if you can afford them." Adrien counted on his fingers (that were covered in mittens).

The wind and the snow subsided while they were sitting and the sun broke shyly through the clouds. The soil was partially covered with snow and the glare of the sun reflected from the snow made them half blind. Everyone was looking for the dark glasses.

"Let's assume none of us can afford that." Ling replied flatly as she put on her shades.

"This can help." Adrien put the sunglasses on. "But only to walk around."

"As well as a towel and googles, we have been there before." Ye teased.

"Basically, you ignore them and find a decent journalist and give them an interview." Adrien summarized. "Ask for the questions in advance and do not answer anything you do not want to talk about."

"But we are heroes. Why would they ask awkward questions?" Ling asked incredulously.

"Oh you wouldn't believe … " Marinette groaned as she remembered all the awful questions she used to get as Ladybug. But then she flapped her hand over her mouth as she felt she spoke too much.

"Don't worry. We have tabloids too." Ling replied.

"I think we have more." Marinette relied flatly.

"I bet you do." Ye replied with a knowing look towards Ling. They were appalled at few pieces of news they could read on different sites. They were short and non informative, but the titles were always insinuating some sensational and usually awful stuff.

The fairy tale scenery around them was a huge contrast to their subject of conversation. Without the shining glare of the sun reflected from the snow they enjoyed the view.

"Hey, let's make some photos." Ling proposed, her phone was already in her hand, her gloves removed.

"We can make it a photo shoot." Adrien exclaimed.

They made a few silly poses and Ling was taking photos of the all four, sometimes they made silly faces, sometimes they were mock serious, and more often than not, it was impossible to keep a stupid grin off from their faces.

They continued to walk with less talking, as each of them concentrated on the effort. They were climbing a very steep slope and it was becoming steeper and steeper. There were bits of ice and slippery gravel so they had to be careful with each step they took. Soon it was all about their breathing. Breathe in, one leg in front, breathe out, put your leg in front of the other.

The steep climb was in the shade from the sun and all of them took away their sunglasses. It was less cold and few students even unzipped their jackets open. Because the climb was difficult, everyone warmed up due to the physical exertion. Their faces were red and they breathed quickly, but they did not stop, they moved forward and up. From time to time, someone would trip and land on their knees or their but. The least lucky of all slid down the slope with the unstable gravel for a few meters.

By the time they reached the top, the sun was already setting behind the mountains in the distance.

"Let's go, we will have to walk in the dark, you do not want to sleep in the snow." The guide was obviously tired herself. She had to take a breath between every few words, but she was not giving up. It was a hard job to lead a group of people through such terrain.

The terrain they walked was uphill, but mild, almost flat, and the trail was mostly smooth. Everyone prepared their flash lights. But there was no moon, the clouds approached them and soon there were snowflakes floating all around them.

Many students pointed their flash lights upwards and watched the snow, in the dark, with only snowflakes slowly floating down.

Marinette and Adrien shared one flash light and kept the other to spare in case they emptied the battery on the first one.

Adrien pointed it upwards and they stopped. The snowflakes gently settled around them.

"It feels as if we are floating up, between the stars." Marinette whispered.

"Yeah, we are travelling into outer space again." Adrien smirked. They both remembered their travel on Startrain, but this time it was peaceful, they simply enjoyed the experience. There was no akuma to beat, no supervillains, they did not have to invent excuses that would hide their secret identities, there was no danger (except it was dark, they were in the mountains and it was cold, but they ignored all that).

They stood like that huddled close to each other for minutes, perhaps longer. They did not want to stop and break from their dreamy cocoon.

"Come on, you can spacewalk when we reach the campsite." The guide encouraged the kids to move.

Adrien sighed as he lowered the flash light, but he did not remove his arm from Marinette. It was comforting to know that she was there. They listened to Ling and Ye who chatted behind them. They were talking about all the space filmy and TV series they ever watched, or did not watch but wanted to see some time in the future.

It felt as if they walked in the dark for hours. Several students started to express their fear that they got lost, but finally, after they reached one of the higher points on their way and finally saw faint lights in the distance.

"Finally." The guide said. "We would have seen the camp site long time ago but the snow reduced the visibility. We will be there soon."

Unfortunately, many students stared at their goal and did not watch where they were going. That combined with exhaustion from walking all day and slippery surface made many of them slip, trip and fall. And sometimes, the next student would trip and fall over the first one.

"Okay. Okay. Okay." The guide shouted. "Watch where you are going. Do not make piles on the way. It is a rough walk as it is."

It took a mental effort, but they proceeded slowly towards the camp site. Everything was white, the tents, the trucks, the buses that waited for them.

"The other group left this morning, we missed them as they took a different route. The dinner is waiting for you. You will sleep in the same tent as on the first night." The guide explained and disappeared in the tent.

The four kids quickly left their stuff on the side close to the entrance to the tent and went outside. Adrien pointed his flash light up and all four watched the snow.

"It really looks like space travel." Adrien whispered.

"How would you know?" Ye asked exasperatedly, and then laughed.

"Perhaps he is so rich he could pay for his space travel, you saw those stories." Ling teased.

They all laughed.

"Actually an akuma took our train to outer space." Marinette spoke quietly after everyone settled down.

"Really?" Ye asked incredulously.

"Akuma let you do space travel?" Ling screeched.

"Mhm" Marinette muttered her confirmation.

"Mother of our classmate is now in school to become an astronaut. She was guiding the train at the time." Adrien explained as they watched the snow and enjoyed the show.

But then their stomachs started to groan due to their emptiness and the four kids reluctantly went to the tent with food to eat.

Once their stomach were full, they suddenly felt very tired and sleepy.

Adrien pulled out his phone, the quickly typed the message to his legal representative and ignored hundreds of other messages. Then he changed his mind and wrote briefly to Nino and his bodyguard that they reached the camp and put it away again.

Marinette sighed. "I can't believe how many messages I got, I do not have the energy to reply to anyone." She groaned into the air.

"Just do your parents and go to sleep." Ling sing sang as she already did just that and put away her phone.

Marinette sent the same message about reaching the camp to her parents and the girls from her class. She did not want them to worry. She did not read a single message that reached them.

They were glad they could simply roll into their sleeping bag and keep each other warm. The bag was cold. The air was cold. Ling kept reminding everyone of those facts.

Adrien ignored all the noises. He had his Ladybug in his arms. She was breathing calmly. He imagined she was already asleep when he buried his face in her hair and started to whisper.

"I lost my family. Long time ago, not this week. But I can face the world as long as I do it with you by my side." He whispered softly into her hair and then he held her tighter. But then she stirred slightly.

"I am here. I am here." She whispered softly back and held him tighter.

They remained like that for a few minutes. But Marinette huffed a few times.

"Ling, please stop." Marinette whisper shouted.

"I think it makes her feel warm if she is complaining about the cold." Ye replied tiredly.

"Come on, I am not the only one cold here." Ling motioned to several other students who whined and screamed about the cold even louder than her.

Marinette did not bother to open her eyes, she just smiled. Adrien raised his head and glanced towards one particularly loud student who whined about the snow in his sleeping bag. Adrien shook his head and slumped back down, his head slightly hit Marinette in the process, and she moaned in protest but did nothing more.

"Oh, sorry, sorry sorry." Adrien apologized.

"It is okay, I am too tired, you are too tired, we are too tired. Just go to sleep." Marinette begged with her eyes closed.

A few more breaths and they were both asleep. Ling looked at them with a small smile and nudged Ye to look too. They both feared for the boy and what was going to happen to him.


	103. Chapter 103 - The Return to Lhasa

Return to Lhasa

Both Ling and Ye smiled at the sight of two teens sleeping huddled together in their sleeping bag. They exchanged a look between them and sighed with relief. At least the boy was sleeping peacefully and if the best way to help him right now was to keep quiet then they would do it. Ling clenched her teeth as she sunk into her cold sleeping bag and shuffled a little before she settled to accept the cold.

"Do you think he will be okay?" Ye whispered.

"I do not have a clue. Aunt Sabine wrote they contacted that friend of his, Nino, and his parents and are thinking of what to do about Adrien, together with that bodyguard of his." Ling whispered.

"Yeah, I can't believe that the only _family_ he has left is his bodyguard." Ye watched the mist form in front of his mouth as he spoke. She stressed the word family.

"It will be really hard on him. He will be a minor for years and whoever gets the guardianship might exploit his fame." Ling whispered as she checked if the two kids were really asleep.

"I think he knows all that." Ye replied.

"Yeah. It is not as if we could help. We should get some sleep." Ling replied.

"Well, his Chinese is good, he could go to school here." Ye whispered as if he got an idea.

Ling raised her head and stared at the boy.

"Never mind, good night." Ye turned and closed his eyes. He could not help but scheme impossible plans just to be able to help the boy.

The night was cold. In their rush to leave their things, the four teens took the places that were the closest to the tent entrance and Ling was the closest to the edge of the tent, which meant it was really cold for her to sleep. She woke up a few times and even persuaded Ye to change positions, she simply rolled in her sleeping bag over him because she refused to get out from it into the cold night air. She even bumped into Marinette and Adrien while she rolled. The two teens were certainly stirred from their sleep. But they only muttered a few complaints, shuffled and went back to sleep.

The morning brought the same experience as on their arrival journey. Everything was covered in frost. Most of the students learned their lesson and stored their clothes in their backpacks, but those who have not, have released loud noises that expressed their discomfort while dressing up.

Adrien was awake but waited for Marinette to open her eyes. During the night, he had a nightmare in which he saw his father and Nathalie and his mother and had to fight all three of them. But even in his dream he told himself that he was not alone and then he woke up with Marinette there and knew he was going to be okay. He wandered how would that have felt in a large empty room with nobody around. Well he had Plagg, who probably woke him up from the nightmare by scratching his chest. Adrien gave him a small piece of cheese and took his time to fall back asleep, but it was not long and he enjoyed it as he knew the girl was there.

He smiled to Ling when she asked if she could take a photo of them. Marinette was sleeping, her face covered with the sleeping bag. The older girl had already suffered changing her clothes as the cold night and the morning woke her up earlier than needed.

Ye was also dressed, but he wrapped himself in his sleeping bag and frowned at his phone.

"Don't read that." Ling scolded him quietly. Adrien frowned a little.

"But isn't it rude not to reply to people's messages?" Ye inquired.

"Sometimes you can be rude like that." Ling whisper shouted.

Marinette stirred and all four of them were soon on their way to fetch breakfast.

They loaded into buses and most of the students tried to catch some sleep. Adrien scraped the thin coating of ice from the inner side of the bus. But there was a thin layer of ice on the outer side of the window that prevented them to see through. Marinette laid the palms of her hands onto the window and the outside ice layer behind her palms melted so she created two small transparent openings. Her hands were cold but they could both peek through. Then Adrien did the same and they could see little more of the landscape. Later he removed the mist from the window and was excited to watch the scenery during the whole ride. Both him and Marinette enjoyed the view of the mountains and the deep canyon they travelled along. They counted different kinds of birds they saw and admired the sheep and the goats they saw scale the cliffs as they looked for anything green and edible. Adrien swore he saw a large cat sneaking up on some prey, and he even tried to guess the species. But Marinette missed to see the wild cat.

"Oh, it does not matter, I have my kitty right here." She said absent mindedly as she was trying to spot the wild cat through the window for the last time. She was tired and did not thing about what she had just said, but the said words made Adrien to loose himself in his own thoughts. The boy looked through the window dreamily and said nothing, but pulled the girl closer (and away from the said window).

The waterfall they went through on their arrival was still there and its rumbling woke up those students who were asleep. They passed all the curves on the road slowly and Adrien tried to take a photo of each curve. Marinette was nervous whenever she lost sight of the road between the bus and the abyss below them as she was ready to transform and save the bus. But Tikki kept patting her to calm her down. The bus drivers knew how to drive down that road. And this time they had no problems and did not have to get out from the bus on steep part of the road.

When they arrived to the same parking lot in Lhasa from which they started, the adults were there to meet them (at least those who travelled to Lhasa). Adrien and Marinette slept through the last few hours of the ride as it was on a normal road and less scenic than before.

Tom hugged Marinette, but Sabine managed to hug Adrien before his bodyguard. The large man simply engulfed both of them in his hug. Ling and Ye were wrapped into their own parents who could not believe that none of them sustained any injuries from the fight.

They returned the gear they rented and paid for the cleaning. Adrien wanted to hold onto the sleeping bag but he was persuaded to return it any way.

They went into a restaurant for dinner. At first they wanted to go to the place where Marinette's uncle was working, but that place was booked far in advance. In the end, they went to a place that served food mostly to the locals and took the simple dish of the day. Everyone chatted about the weather, the adults mentioned all the sights they saw and all the places they visited, a museum, a theatre show, several organized one day trips out from Lhasa when they saw different mountains from the bus.

The youngsters talked about the bus ride and the walk and the temple … but there was one subject nobody dared to mention, except maybe when Adrien's bodyguard grunted, but he never lead the conversation.

They retreated to the same small hotel and the kids decided that they really wanted hot water shower and even played a game to decide who should go first. In the end it was Marinette who won to go first. Adrien decided to finally place a video call to his legal guardian and went into the kitchen for some privacy as he let Ling know she could go second instead of him.

Adrien stared at the number of his legal advisor and looked at his bodyguard.

"I am going to call Ms Leclerc now." The boy simply stated to his bodyguard. The large man produced a small smile and grunted to acknowledge the information. "Do you want to talk to her?" He asked timidly. His bodyguard waved his head.

Adrien sighed and pressed the button for the video call. He preferred to see her face. She answered quickly.

"Good afternoon Ms Leclerc." Adrien greeted as soon as he saw that the video call has been established.

"Good afternoon Mr Agreste." A young woman with brown hair tied into a pony tail greeted back. "I am Lucille Lavillant, the assistant to Mme Leclerc. She will be with you in a few minutes, if you can wait." The young woman smiled widely.

"Good afternoon Ms Lavillant. I have some time." Adrien greeted again using his standard model smile. Again he was talking to some secretary.

"Please call me Lucille. I am the cousin of your classmate, Rose." She smiled sheepishly.

"Hi Lucille. Please call me Adrien." Adrien smiled wider. Perhaps this was going to be more friendly.

"I am here for the training. Sorry you can't get through to her directly, but she is on the phone regarding your subject. Have you arrived to Lhasa safely?" The assistant seemed genuine.

"Yes, we arrived a few hours ago, but I got to the hotel only ten minutes ago." The boy replied politely.

"Do you want to go through the basics?" Lucille asked quietly. Adrien confirmed and she went through his legal status. Apparently, his bodyguard had something like a temporary custody, he clarified what he knew about his accounts and learned he had some money inherited from his mother that he was not allowed to touch without an approval and confirmed the closest living relatives.

"Do you have some questions, Adrien?" Lucille asked as he noticed she checked something in the office next door and returned.

"Can I keep going to the same school? Can I stay in Paris? Do I have to live in the mansion?" Adrien shot the questions.

"The answer to the latest question is 'better not'. You can stay in Paris and you are expected to go to school." Lucille smiled easily. "If you do not want to move away from France to live with your aunt, then we will organize something."

Adrien sighed with relief. "That is great news."

"Hi Adrien, I mean Mr Agreste, can I call you Adrien? I'm sorry you waited. I am Augusta Leclerc, you can call me Augusta, if you want. Apparently representing you means doing a job of a whole team of lawyers and public relation experts." A woman in her forties appeared on the screen and talked quickly. Her hair was brown too, but cut just below her hears and she had round glasses and warm brown eyes.

"Hi Mme Leclerc, I mean Augusta, you can call me Adrien." The boy smiled.

"I just spent half of the morning assembling the statements for the media and released it just now." The woman looked wired up, but tired. "How are you?" The woman looked concerned.

"I am okay. A little tired, we travelled whole day on the bus, it is evening here." Adrien replied quickly.

"Oh, I won't make you even more tired then, you should have your rest. Stay away from the media. You do not need that right now." The woman smiled but her eyes were serious as if she studied him.

"Okay" Adrien nodded. He did not need to be reminded of that.

"Have you been contacted by Gabriel Agreste or Natalie Sancoeur since the fight?" Augusta asked carefully.

"No" Adrien waved his head.

"Do you want to know what happened with them?" She was cautious as the boy did not ask about that once in his messages nor in the conversation.

"I assumed they were taken by Chinese authorities." Adrien shrugged.

"They are. France had required them to be transferred." The woman confirmed but decided not to go into details because Adrien's face was looking darked than before. "Do you want to know the details?"

"No, not really, at least not right now." Adrien answered timidly. He did not want to be bothered by his father, unless he was a threat.

"All right, I will keep you posted on that in case of any big change. And please be careful what you write and send to your friends." The woman smiled.

Adrien frowned.

"I will explain in more details when you get here. Don't worry you are not in any trouble." she continued quickly.

The boy relaxed. "What is wrong?" He asked as he sensed something was hidden from him again.

"Some information about you leaked to the media. I identified what happened and handed it over to the police." The woman smiled.

"Okay." Adrien raised his eyebrows.

"It is just complicated and not resolved yet, don't worry, that is what you have me for." The woman smiled.

Marinette walked into the room with a towel on her head. Adrien instantly remembered her with the googles in the cinema and started to laugh.

"Marinette is here." He stated simply to explain his behaviour. Both women he was talking with were amused by his reaction.

"She can stay for this conversation, actually I might ask her what happened." The woman continued with a sigh. Adrien quickly introduced Marinette and the women introduced themselves. Marinette waved to the screen and looked at them expectantly.

"Are you both okay? No injuries?" The woman studied them both with a kind look.

"Okay, not hurt." They both nodded.

"Troubles sleeping?" The woman continued.

They both waved their heads.

"Excellent." She smiled to the screen.

"Any concerns?" She continued.

"Plenty." Adrien smiled sheepishly.

"What is going to happen to Adrien?" Marinette asked worriedly.

"According to his wishes, he will stay in Paris." The woman replied. "We cant force him to live with his relatives if that means moving out of the country."

Marinette smiled widely.

"But, we will have to handle the most recent problems." She was serious again.

"Could you please explain briefly?" Adrien insisted.

"They will learn about this before they return for sure." Lucille told quietly to her supervisor.

"You're right. I can't shelter them enough." Augusta replied quickly to her assistant.

"Adrien wrote me, but could you please both confirm. Had any of you ever sent any messages or photos to Lila Rossi?" The woman looked very serious.

"No" Adrien replied calmly while Marinette practically screamed. He never told her that was one of the questions and she looked at the boy bewildered. What was that liar up to?

"We only communicated with Nino and Alya, they were the only ones who knew we were here before the fight." Adrien said quietly. "That was what I actually wrote, I was never explicitly asked about Lila." He told Marinette.

Marinette nodded to confirm she understood.

"Last night, I sent only one message to a few girls from my class to confirm we are okay and on our way home." Marinette added. She knew Lila may have pried some information from them.

Augusta looked at Lucille. "Let's say we already got that information." The older woman smiled knowingly.

"That is Rose's cousin." Adrien pointed to the younger woman on the screen.

"But you sent messages and photos to Alya Cesaire?" Augusta asked sternly.

"Yes and her boyfriend Nino Lahiffe. They both also had access to the messaging application I use to communicate with my father and his assistant." Adrien confirmed.

"The same one you sent me access code for the other day?" Lucille asked. Adrien confirmed.

"That one is okay." The younger woman told to her supervisor.

"Okay kids. I will get to the end of it. You did nothing wrong. I will not forbid you from communicating with your friends I know you need them at times like these. It is very late where you are and you had a long day. Get some rest and enjoy your travel." The lawyer finally closed the argument.

They chatted for a few more minutes about the time difference and the weather and the mountains they saw on their voyage as the two women were genuinely interested in their experiences. Ling and Ye entered the room and told Adrien it was his turn for the bathroom. The boy said goodbye to the two women and felt rather light. He felt both of the women actually cared for him.


	104. Chapter 104 - Call Nino

Call Nino

Marinette removed the wet towel from her head and pulled up the hood of her onesie to keep warm. The four of them still did not get a room as the owner of the small house where they stayed was somewhere outside for the evening. She packed her dirty clothes and put the clean clothes on top. She sat at the table and waited for Adrien to return. She wanted to talk to Tikki as she was concerned and went through the messages she got from her friends but her cousins were there on their phones too and commented on everything they got in their inboxes. There was a warning from Nino and request to call him as soon as they could.

Adrien returned took out his phone again, he had only one single message from Nino, and that was to call him. He pressed the button for the video call without thinking. And then, of course, he placed the camera to show him and Marinette, her cousins were near them all wrapped into blankets and talking.

"Hi Adrien." Nino greeted as soon as he answered the call.

"Hi Nino" Adrien grinned.

"Oh, Nino, Hi" Marinette turned towards the phone and Adrien pulled her closer.

"Hi Nino, Alya's boyfriend." Ling greeted as she waved from the side. Nino raised his eyebrows, looked to the side and touched his red hat.

"Rude." Ye told her. "Hi Nino." The boy waved to the camera.

"Oh, you are all together there?" Nino replied slightly nervous.

"Um, yes, we are in a hotel, we are boarding the train for Beijing tomorrow." Adrien replied. "It is late in the evening, we should be quiet, but, I guess we can talk."

"Okay, dude, I have some news for you, you do not have to talk much, just please do not scream, okay." Nino looked at the screen sheepishly.

Ling instantly took a pillow from a chair and put it in front of her mouth and then mumbled that she was ready. Marinette decided to follow her example while the boys looked at each other with raised eyebrows.

"The other night, Alya had a visitor. It was Lila." Nino spoke slowly. Adrien groaned loudly. Marinette groaned into the pillow. Ling and Ye gave them an odd look.

"Who is this Lila?" Ling whispered curiously.

"Later." Both teens brushed her off. She gave them a quirk eyebrow but decided she could wait.

"I see you already expect bad news." Nino continued as he observed his two friends.

"Let's say we both know nothing good came out from that." Adrien replied flatly.

"What did that lying freak do this time." Marinette muttered as she glared to the phone.

"Alya let her use her phone, just for a moment." Marinette tolled her eyes at Nino's words and huffed. "I am not sure what she actually, did. Max said she cloned her accounts. Maybe it was Markov who said that." Nino scratched his head and returned his red cap on top of his hair.

"Told ya" Ye grinned. The other three teens nodded.

"It was her who was writing to me and to Marinette's cousins and I do not know who else." Nino waved his head.

"Good thing we did not send any." Ling whispered.

"The thing is, the other night Alya showed her the pictures of you form China, those pictures she got. She could not wait to spill it to someone, and well once your fight was livestreamed over her blog, she just had to do it and of course Lila was the first to visit her when she was alone and … Anyway, Lila wanted those pictures, the pictures of you, so she cloned the application on her computer, or something, so she could send and receive the same messages Alya did, but she could not reach the old messages and photos so she kept asking for them." Nino took a deep breath. "Max said it is very simple thing to do."

"Okay." Adrien replied as he felt obliged to say something.

"It is not okay. That was not enough for her because she got almost nothing. So she met Alya the next day and stole her phone to send all those photos to herself. Of course, Alya did not believe it was intentional. But Lila sold those photos to the highest bidder and … and she even had an interview as if it was her who had received them in the first place. Then Adrien's legal advisor notified the police but they could not get Lila's computer because her home is considered part of the embassy and she has that diplomatic immunity and stuff."

"Okay, so all the photos that I ever sent you are floating all over internet?" Adrien replied calmly.

"Not all, just those I forwarded to Alya, from Beijing mostly, and those sent by Marinette and her cousins. Alya showed me but I do not remember what was there." Nino shrugged.

"Listen Nino. It was not your fault. I am a teenager. I have a right to go on holidays and have fun with my friends. There was nothing incriminating. Now I understand better the messages that legal advisor sent me." Adrien spoke.

"How is Alya?" Marinette asked quietly. She went through the whole whirlwind of emotions and finally settled on what to actually ask. She was mad at Lila, she was angry that Alya was so naive. She did not care what happened to herself, but Adrien was a celebrity and those photos were actually worth money.

"She is mad. I think her phone is with the police now. Her computer too. Her parents grounded her and she is not allowed to have anyone to come over." Nino shrugged.

"Alya with no phone? She is more than mad." Marinette replied flatly. Ling nodded full of understanding although she did not quite get the whole conversation. Ye simply stared at the phone, bewildered, he could not understand that something like that had just happened.

Marinette and Adrien exchanged a look that said 'At least she can't be akumatized into Lady WiFi again.' But they kept silent.

"Yeah, dudes, I think she would have been akumatized already if you haven't done what you did." Nino said thoughtfully. "Way to thank you to release all your photos that way."

"So, what is the outcome?" Adrien grinned.

"What do you mean?" Nino replied rather confused.

"What stories they attached to those photos?" Adrien cleared up what he was asking.

"You mean the stories they invented?" Nino asked incredulously. "Are you sure you want to know dude?"

"Well, remember when I escaped to the cinema and Marinette helped me loose a few fans on the way?" Adrien grinned. He looked at the girl who blushed severely.

"A few?" she muttered to herself.

"Dude, that was completely benign, this is just … well there were many stories." Nino replied sheepishly.

"You can make a choice, I want to have some fun, let me know the highlights." Adrien grinned.

The other three teens gave him an odd look. But then the two older of them smiled. Of course, there might be more fun stories to read. Marinette did not expect anything entertaining if it originated form Lila.

"Yes, tell us, are we famous too?" Ling asked as she pushed her face closer to the screen while she talked and then retreated when she was finished.

"Please, tell us if there was some fun stuff about us too." Ye pleaded while he waved his hand.

"Nino, we had some fun and a few laughs reading a piece on TVi News site the other day, that one was written by Nadia Chamack, I can't imagine what others wrote." Marinette added with a smile.

"Just drop the tabloids." Adrien winked.

"I do not read that stuff you know." Nino started to evade the answer as they all saw he checked on Chris who was playing a video game with headphones on.

"I am sure you did." Adrien replied with a smirk.

"Oh, well, I will omit all those who mention you only as the son of Hawk Moth." Nino said gloomily. "The same sites also forget to mention it was you who fought him."

"Nino" Marinette warned him. Her eyes flipped between Adrien and the screen as if she was watching a ping pong game. She was concerned for Adrien's feelings. And she expected that was the last thing the boy needed to hear.

Adrien nudged her closer with his arm. "Don't worry, I can take it." He smiled.

"But you don't have to." Marinette whispered back.

"So protective." He smiled to her.

Nino was thinking where to start and went towards his own computer.

"The police was here this morning. At first, I thought someone broke into my phone and computer and stole those photos." Nino explained as he was opening his browser with memorized tabs.

"Kim and Max dropped by later this morning. I asked Max for help too. But before they arrived it was clear what happened. Kim read all the titles out loud while Markov made a huge analysis of all the material he found on the internet himself… well Max will tell you all about it, perhaps he sent you an email." Nino drawled while he went through the tabs and winced at few titles.

"You are avoiding the subject Nino." Adrien warned.

"Okay, so, just for you to know, you are now a playboy." Nino smirked as he spoke, he knew he dropped a bomb in the first sentence. Adrien blushed. "You enjoyed your holidays on exotic locations in East Asia." Nino stressed the words. "Few of them even mention that you are eighteen."

"Oh I did not know that, that would make a few things in my life a lot simpler." Adrien remarked. Marinette was blushing by his side as she failed to comprehend anything after that playboy word.

"Yeah, dude, tell me about it." Nino sighed.

"Anything about us then?" Ling inquired.

"Ah yes, you are the mystery Chinese friends of Adrien, you are a couple," Ling and Ye looked at each other, Nino continued to talk as he checked a few websites on his computer, probably left after the visit from his classmates. "You are an actress and a singer or an heiress and a … listen carefully 'disowned son of a member of parliament', then one site actually says you are probably students from a university." 'Not yet' both Ling and Ye replied. "They specify you both must be history students." Then Nino switched to another site. "Oh yes, here it is, the facial analysis had recognized both of you as members of some huge pop band that I never heard of." The boy now showed the piece of news. Both Chinese teens were laughing at each article Nino showed them.

"I have to read this one." Ling exclaimed.

"Send us the links, dude, please." Ye begged.

"What about Marinette?" Ling asked excitedly.

"No" Marinette whispered. She did not want them to know, she did not want to deal with that now, or perhaps never. If Lila was the source of information, she was as eager as always to fight her lies, but this was new, she had not read them yet and she worried more about what that liar told about Adrien than what lies she spread about herself.

"They went wild about Marinette. Fortunately Nadia gave a testimony of knowing you and only basic information and a few details that are already publicly known, like Jagged Stone album and appearance in the Clara Nightingale video. She also mentioned that hat." Nino spoke from his head, but it was obvious he wanted to avoid telling something else.

"Okay, but tell us what have they invented about her?" Ling insisted.

"You do not want to know. Marinette, I know your parents have asked for a lawyer to handle this and there were several who offered their services for free." Nino was serious.

"Wasn't there any fun fact that they invented about her?" Ling pushed further while both Marinette and Ye nudged her to stop.

"I already mentioned the fun part, but nobody had to lie about that." Nino replied flatly.

"Nino, tell me the worst." Marinette looked at the screen determined as ever. She was tired, she was exhausted by the whole ordeal, but she was to find the strength to face that liar.

"Um, she said Adrien was her boyfriend and you followed after him and his father and must have seduced him and … well she said she never saw Adrien smile like that that you must have drugged him some way." Nino rolled his eyes. "Well she said it differently, she was so smooth."

"Yes she was." Ling said with downcast eyes.

"We just might have read about it." Ye added.

"I was thinking of the funny stuff." Ling scolded.

"You know, she might be right." Adrien smirked as he looked at Marinette. Her eyes went wide and her mouth was wide open. "I rarely smiled like on those photos. But now I do it more often. I must be under her influence." Adrien winked at the screen and Nino stared back with a goofy grin because his friend was happy. Marinette was completely red and hid her face in her hands. Her cousins were snickering behind them.

"Yeah, dude, I noticed too." Nino teased from the screen. Poor girl was peeking at the blond boy beside her through her fingers. She still had to come to terms with her feelings for him, and his for her. Her dreams have come true but she still did not know what to do about that.

"What? She is not an heiress, a mysterious Asian princess from a remote island kingdom or something?" Ling was the one who decided to fix the mood because she felt she also broke it by her insistence. She noticed her young cousin was rather confused about how to act about what Adrien just said and decided to change the subject.

"Yes, a princess, why is she not a princess?" Adrien grinned to the phone and then observed Marinette carefully. She hitched a breath as that was a nickname Chat Noir used for her. The boy sported his signature superhero lopsided grin. The girl put down her hands and smiled as she looked at him and Ling who was slightly bewildered, but mostly happy.

"I don't know dude." Nino shrugged.

"I am an heiress to a bakery." Marinette exclaimed proudly.

And that statement set another fit of jiggles to everybody.

"We bow to you, oh mighty queen of croissants and pain au chocolate." Ye mock bowed to the girl and she giggled. They all continued to laugh at his antics.

"Just one more thing. Chloe recognized Marinette the moment those photos were out and, dude, she is not happy about it." Nino warned after they returned to more serious tone.

"She will have to accept it." Adrien replied calmly. At least he did not have to worry that she was to be akumatized over anything he did, nobody was to be akumatized because he did or did not do something. It was such a relief.

"The police officially confirmed your identities for the public. So you are all considered heroes." Nino added as they were still in serious tones.

"Of course we are heroes." Adrien confirmed as he playfully inhaled his chest and pretended to be extremely proud of it. (He indeed was but he could not say why in all the necessary details).

"But the media will forget about us before we return, for sure." Marinette noted, she did not regret the fact, it sounded as if she was hoping for that.

"Um, I would not count on that." Nino mumbled back. "Chloe's dad already announced plans."

"I hope Theo does not make another statue." Adrien teased and he nudged Marinette. She groaned back and rolled her eyes. The boy smirked at her, at least for their possible future statue he was hoping to claim the girl as his for real, not just to provoke the sculptor.

"I hope so too." The girl confirmed. She remembered how she was late for the unveiling and how Theo got akumatized. Well, Marinette was known to be late for everything. Perhaps this time … no, stop thinking about that, no statue was to be built this time.

"What statue?" Ye asked as he noticed the exchange had a deeper meaning and then he heard all about the statue of Ladybug and Chat Noir. Save the akumatization.

Marinette suddenly paled. It was easy to be a hero hidden underneath the Ladybug mask, but now she was known as a hero by herself because she fought Hawk Moth as a civilian. And that was entirely different. She looked at Adrien with admiration.

"How have you ever survived being famous as … " then she trailed off because she could not finish the question as both you and Chat Noir.

"Well you know, I sometimes need a helmet and a sweet girl with a towel and googles." Adrien teased back because he understood what she really wanted to ask but could not really reply to her question.

"Look, Nino, there is Alya on TV!" Chris shouted from the living room and Nino ran over there.

Nadia Chamack was talking to Alya with both her parents and Nora standing behind her with the same determined expression as when she did not let Alya go to see the fireworks. Nino turned up the volume on TV.

"I just want my friends and their families to know that I am really sorry, I got these photos of them because they are my friends. The photos were stolen from me. I have not sold them to the media." Alya cleared her throat. Her father tapped her on her shoulder. Nora crossed her arms and looked to the screen as she tried to look even more intimidating than usual. Nino slightly winced at the sight and both Adrien and Marinette assumed he was reliving some scenes from when they fought Anansi. Marinette secretly wished Nora was locked up with Lila alone in a room for ten minutes.

"This is a police investigation now, we are not allowed to give any further comment." Alya's father spoke to the TV journalist while her mother looked into the camera slightly frightened. Her parents were not used to the media attention.

Nadia thanked them all for giving a statement and turned back to the camera. "The police had identified a culprit who is a minor and cleared other friends and family of our civilian heroes." She was talking again about what happened and Nino reduced the volume as he wanted to spare his friends as much as possible.

"Alya looks mad." Marinette said matter of factly. She felt guilty because her friend was cheated by the liar. Perhaps she could have done something to warn her, maybe if she said this or done that or just did a few things differently, then maybe … well, Tikki would tell her not to thing about what could have been done but about what to do next.

"It is not your fault." Adrien whispered to her ear. But Nino caught it.

"How could that possibly be her fault. She did try to warn us all." Nino smiled. Her stories did not affect him so much. He spent half the time with his headphones on when she was talking. Yes, he bought all her promises, but he also wanted to succeed on his own, not because someone pushed him all the way.

Marinette smirked but said nothing. Adrien sighed. He was not about to scold his friend. Besides, he knew Lila was lying and never warned his friends about her lies as he assumed the liar would only hurt herself in the end.

"Please tell Alya we are not mad at her for loosing her phone." Marinette said quietly. The other three nodded to confirm that statement. She was not angry about the phone, what troubled her was the lack of trust.

"I also knew she was a liar, Nino. But I said nothing." Adrien looked to the floor. "You see, the first time she was akumatized, she went after me, she pretended she would throw me off the Eiffel Tower. The other time she turned into a copy of me and hurt you." Adrien felt shivers go down his spine at the memory. "I could have lost my friends because of her actions." Adrien looked at Marinette on the side. She looked at him with her mouth opened. "As an akuma, she went after people I love or me and I did not want her akumatized again. So I asked Marinette not to expose her."

Nino frowned.

Marinette remembered how Chameleon also took the shape of Chat Noir so she assumed his shape twice. But the boy could not have said that. He smiled at her gently.

"When I learned how her lies have hurt my friends I did something about it." Adrien spoke quietly as he looked at the girl. "I am sorry I did not expose her, but I did not know how."

"You should have told me dude." Nino muttered.

"Would you believe my words? Nobody believed Marinette." Adrien retorted. "And Lila went after her just because she tried. Do you know how much damage she could have done to me? She had some kind of deal with my father … " And then he trailed off as a spark of recognition passed through his eyes. "Of course." He whispered.

Marinette looked at the boy with questions in her eyes. She let her thoughts follow what he had just said. Lila had a deal with his father? His father was Hawk Moth. Of course, that meant that … Lila had a deal with Hawk Moth. That was how she was allowed close to the boy by his father.

They had to cut the call as it was time to arrange some sleeping space for the four of them.


	105. Chapter 105 - The Blanket Fort

The Blanket Fort

The parents wanted the kids to stay in the same house with them. That was a tiny hotel they have chosen for the closeness with the local people. It was the choice of Marinette's uncle, the famous chef, as he always looked for inspirations and new ingredients. The room they slept in the first time was not taken, but this time, they did not have their sleeping bags. The room was small and not heated and it was the only spare room available. The only other space they could use was the large common living space with the dining table and several pieces of furniture that were used as sofas. The biggest benefit was that it was much warmer. After they have not slept in a proper bed for almost two weeks, the kids looked forward to sleeping on the floor.

They collected all the extra blankets and pillows from the adults (that they could spare) and Marinette insisted to build a pillow fortress while the others took turns checking the two sofas. Ling quickly booked one sofa and threw herself on it. She was exhausted and ready to go to sleep, but her mouth kept chatting about everything they did and everything that happened.

Marinette found a way to build a blanked fort using the chairs and distributed the cushions on the floor in between. She collected all the cushion from the chairs, two sofas, bench in the hallway and a few she found in the small storage room. Adrien really enjoyed building the fort with her. She was missing everything she used at home and yet she managed to find a replacement for it.

Adrien stacked the chairs in a row as he continued what Marinette did.

"These are all the pillows I could collect." The girl said as she carried a pile that was higher than her head so she did not see where she was going. Adrien caught her before she tripped and took the pillows from her and then they distributed them on the space between the two rows of chairs.

"Okay, what do we do now?" Adrien asked as he spread the blankets. Marinette turned a few chairs to her liking and then spread one blanket.

"Let's see how big they are." She proposed. "At home I would use sheets, but ..."

Adrien grinned. He could not remember if he ever built a fort in his life. They spread all four blankets and in the end Marinette connected all four on one corner and tied them up with the thinnest one. Then they spread the blankets over the chairs and got a small tent like space below the blankets.

Adrien laughed the whole time, called her Princess and pretended to be the her knight.

"Hey it is dark in here, Princess." The boy joked as he crawled into their castle.

"We could bring in some light." She replied while she peeked out between the blankets to see if she could find anything appropriate, but all the lamps were attached to walls or the ceiling.

Ye laughed and Ling screamed with joy. Until someone knocked on the door and warned them it was late and they should be quiet.

"You know, you used all the blankets to build that thing, we have nothing to cover ourselves." Ye complained.

"Let's go and find if they have any more blankets to spare." Ling proposed as she got to her feet and the two older teens got out from the room.

"They are right." Marinette surveyed what she built and sneaked into the space that was hidden from the rest of the room by the blankets. "Perhaps we could remove a few blankets and still build it or maybe we can use something else." She was on her knees in the middle of the fort and raised her hands above her head as she tried to untangle a few blankets that were connected by one corner each in the central point without making the whole structure fall apart.

Adrien crawled back into the tent after her. He waited to hear the door had shut to know that the two of them were alone. They spent so much time together, they were barely apart in the last two weeks and yet they were seldom alone, and even when they were, they were about to fight, or to scheme a plan of attack or bring water or deal with the kwami or … or they were just too consumed with everything that happened. But now they should have about ten minutes of alone time and the boy had a plan, or better a thought, a wish to do something. And this looked like a good opportunity, the best he could hope for in the next few days anyway. He knelt in front of her and wrapped his arms around her.

"Princes, please do not take apart our castle." He spoke quietly in her ear. He nudged her earring with his nose and then held her closer. As if he needed her closeness to collect courage for what he wanted to do. That was his lady he held, that was his Ladybug, the everyday and the magical one, all in one person.

She shivered from the gentle tone of his voice and suddenly realized she was in his arms. She lowered her hands put on his shoulders. As they were both on their knees and she was on a thicker pillow there was barely any difference in height. She noticed how close his face was. Very close, too close, she could not see him straight, it was dark, he was warm, she felt his breath one her face. What was he doing? Was there something wrong?

"Adrien?" She squeaked. He smiled. They were finally alone and unsupervised (save the two kwami who were hopefully asleep in Marinette's purse). Her blue eyes were so wide. How he never noticed those blue eyes on Marinette before? He did. He just never noticed they were exactly the same as Ladybugs. That was what prevented him to see them as the same.

"Your charming knight at your service." He smiled gently. It was dark in the blanket fort as all the sources of light were outside. Marinette mentioned they should bring some source of light into the fort before, but right now, Adrien was happy she did not. He felt the warmth in his cheeks. He could feel the heat radiated from her cheeks too. That was encouraging as well as scaring him. Because he knew how she felt, after everything they told each other, she was not going to push him away. Probably. She was his lady, after all.

"Charming?" She hitched a breath. Yes he was charming. He was most definitely charming. His warm green eyes were so bright, she could see them clearly. She felt the heat wash over her face, she knew she was blushing. Why was he so close? Was he cold? Was he scared? He did not look that way. It was not the same feeling as when they were going to sleep. He had some kind of fire in his eyes.

"Yours." He whispered again. That was the word. That was the word that had sucked all the air from her lungs and all the blood from her brain and all that was left was a light cotton fluff that prevented any thought to surface.

He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. He was going to do that. They already told each other how they felt. But they never did anything about those feelings. There was just too much of everything. He learned his lesson, he did not try to make a move in the middle of the battle. And after the battle … well, let's say that was not the first thing that crossed his mind.

"Do you think, maybe, we could … kiss?" He whispered. The next second they were kissing. It was not even a conscious move he did not know when exactly he closed those last centimetres, neither did she. Just one moment he was asking the question and the next moment their lips were connected. They did not think what to do, they just let their feelings guide them for a while. Then they let their lips disconnect but their foreheads were connected.

Adrien was giddy, he kissed his lady and he could expect to remember this particular kiss. Finally he had a kiss to remember. She was completely dazed. Perhaps she fell asleep and was dreaming. She had not dreamed about kissing the boy for a long time. She stopped dreaming about that, she made herself stop, because it was wrong to dream about kissing your friend. And now she kissed him. Or it was him who kissed her? She was not sure. She found she did not really care about such details.

And then they kissed again. It was light and confused and they still did not know what they were doing but it was okay because it was with the person they wanted. They parted when they heard the door squeak open.

Marinette looked at Adrien like a deer in the headlights. Adrien stared at her for a moment but then he remembered her words and looked up.

"How do you untie those blankets?" He pretended to sound casual as if nothing had just happened. He knew that who ever was at the door could not see them, just maybe their feet under the blanket fort. He smirked once more and gave Marinette one more quick kiss and then let her go and grabbed the knot that the girl created before when she tied the blankets together. He tried to untie it but then quickly wrapped one of his arms back around her as she started to move.

"We got no more blankets, we need those that you tied up." Ling announced as she closed the door.

"I can sleep in the jacket and trousers." Ye offered. "It seems sufficiently warm." He wanted the kids to have their fort, particularly because Adrien wanted it, and he felt sorry for the boy.

"How many blankets do we have here?" Adrien asked quietly.

"Four." Marinette whispered.

"Can we untie them?" the boy smiled to the girl.

"Um, yes, just … " She raised her hands and pulled one end and they all untied. Adrien quickly grabbed two ends to keep their blushing faces covered. Two other blankets fell to the floor.

"So Marinette, you can take the other sofa." Ye offered. "And Adrien and me can sleep on the floor.

Marinette looked at Adrien's face, he was so close, then she peeked between the blankets towards the sofa and then back at the boy.

"You can, um, take the sofa?" She offered and blushed even more than before. Adrien grinned. He could not hide the 'yes' he screamed internally.

Ling grabbed the two blankets and separated them. She saw the faces on the two kids and closed them swiftly.

"Take the sofa, Ye." Ling said bluntly while she bent over to take the two free blankets and tossed a blanket in his direction.

"But." The boy complained, he felt guilty to take the sofa while the two younger kids, one of them a girl, would sleep on the floor. "She … would be … cold?"

"Take the sofa." Ling ordered and threw herself on the other sofa.

"Okay? You sure?" The older boy asked the blankets before him.

"Sure." Adrien replied with a small smile as he looked at the girl before him.

"Sure." Marinette squeaked.

Ye turned around and slowly proceeded to take a few steps towards the other sofa.

"You two plan to spend the rest of the night on your knees?" Ling asked teasingly.

"Um, no?" Marinette squeaked.

Adrien lowered his hands and the blankets fell to the floor. He looked at the chairs that surrounded them and the absence of the cover and looked disappointed.

"Give me that thin one, it is larger that the rest." Marinette asked. She tried to throw it over the chairs but failed. Her hands were not listening to her as they usually did, or perhaps her brain did not issue any coordinated instructions. Then Adrien understood and got on his feet. He grabbed the other two ends of the thin cover and they both threw the thin cover over the chairs together. They made a small tent. The ends did not reach the floor but they had a small space separated from the rest of the room, or at least the ceiling.

Then they both crawled underneath the cover and arranged the pillows. They kept moving them around and moving and moving until it became clear to both of them they were just postponing the inevitable and they looked at each other shyly. Adrien took her hand and pulled her to sit down, then he sat beside her and took the blanket. They lied down and covered themselves as they stared at the cover above them. The thin cover had tiny uneven holes from the errors done while it was hand made and the light that was shining through could be seen as tiny stars with a little imagination. And at that moment everything was magical to the two of them.

"I am not sure that this counts as proper supervision that we promised to aunt Sabine and uncle Tom." Ling teased. Ye snorted.

"As if we were paying attention up to now." He teased her back.

Both Adrien and Marinette stiffened a bit.

"Don't worry, she is just teasing you." Ye turned to the two kids. "Besides I can see you clearly. So you can go to sleep."

"Good night." Adrien spoke first.

"Good night." Marinette wished with a slightly higher pitch in her voice than usual.

"Good night." Ye said, turned around and closed his eyes.

"Good night lovebirds." Ling teased and looked for a reaction.

Marinette squeaked quietly and Adrien muffled his laughter. The older girl winked at the odd construction next to the dinner table and closed her eyes.

'I kissed him' Marinette repeated like a mantra 'No, he kissed me.' Came the next thought. 'We kissed each other' was the next thought. 'What is the difference?' she thought. 'Does it matter?' she asked herself again. She missed talking to Tikki, but then this was her own matter to resolve.

Adrien kept rolling the thought 'I kissed her' in his mind, 'I kissed My Lady' he repeated to himself, and this time he knew it was mutual, it was not an akuma attack and it was because they both felt the same. He looked for her hand under the blanket and squeezed it.

They breathed slowly and looked at each other until the weight of the day finally pulled down their eyelids and they fell asleep.


	106. Chapter 106 - Foreign Country

Foreign country

_T__he past is a foreign country: they do things differently there._

Note: With no memory of him wielding a miraculous, Gabriel basically had no memory of anything that happened with him since his last visit to Tibet, and that was the moment when Emilie found the miraculous stones. For simplicity, it is assumed that Nathalie's memories were erased to the same time stamp. Perhaps she knew Emilie found the miraculous from the start.

Gabriel gained his consciousness while he was carried out from a building. He was literally carried out through a door when he started to open his eyes. There were several soldiers and a government official standing outside.

"This is the troublemaker?" One person in a uniform asked.

"Yes, and there is the other one." Another person, who he could not see, answered.

He turned his head slightly but could not see much.

"Are they injured?" The first person in the uniform asked and looked at Gabriel sternly with hands behind his back.

"No, even if they were, everything got fixed before we carried them outside." The other person answered.

Gabriel tried to move and discovered his arms and be tied on his back, probably by handcuffs. His feet were connected too.

"Was this necessary?" He groaned as he moved his hands and feet suggesting he thought he was tied up a bit too much.

"Yes, it was necessary." The voice from behind him replied flatly.

He felt he was laid upon a stretcher and tied up to it with few belts.

"This is so you do not fall off." The man in the uniform offered as an explanation without looking at the man's face.

Gabriel wandered why was he obviously arrested by the army. He knew their papers were obtained by stashing some cash in several pockets before he got a permit to wander around Tibet unsupervised. The last thing he remembered was him, Nathalie, Emilie and a few others as they wandered through the high plains. Emilie tended to separate herself from the group as she was taking photos of everything at different times of a day. She was a model in his company and this was supposed to be an exotic photo shoot combined with his inspiration quest and packed up as a company team building and a vacation. And yet, his leading model was more interested in her hobby.

The memories seemed distant and yet these were the last he could remember and should have felt more fresh. Maybe he hit his head. Maybe someone else hit his head.

When they turned the stretcher, he could see the entrance to the temple. He was not sure what the building was but it definitely looked like an entrance to the temple.

"I have a permit in the pocket of my jacket." Gabriel complained as he looked over himself. He did not remember ever wearing such a jacket, nor the trousers. It looked adventurous, it looked futuristic, perhaps he should remember those lines, the novel solution for the position of the stitches, the innovative positions for the pockets. Although he despised the colour of the outfit. He did not remember he ever designed anything like that. He must have hit his head hard. Because he would never wear anything that he did not design himself.

One of the soldiers reached into his pocket and produced a sheet of paper. The soldier opened it and gave to the man who was issuing orders and asking questions. The man had more decorations on the uniform than the others, he must be something like a commanding officer, Gabriel concluded.

As he waited for the commanding officer to approve his paperwork he looked to his side. There on the stretcher next to his they laid down a body of a woman. He recognized Nathalie. This journey must have been hard on her. Perhaps she was severely ill. Because she looked at least fifteen years older than he remembered. He sighed. His dear assistant always worked long hours and worked her ass out to organize everything he ever needed. This job had to be too much for her. He made a mental note to find more capable replacement for her or a second assistant to share the duties because the job was obviously too much for Nathalie.

The woman was unconscious and breathed heavily, her lungs produced a wheezing noise, as if she was having coughing fits while she was awake. She was probably ill, that was why she looked so much older than she actually was, Gabriel concluded.

"This is a forgery, there are no records of this permit in Lhasa nor Beijing." The commanding officer concluded as he put something that looked like a mobile phone in his pocket. "Store this." He ordered the younger soldier who took it in the first place.

"They, have, you can check once we get there." Gabriel tried to sound authoritative which was not very effective considering he was tied up on a stretcher.

"I already have." The commanding officer ordered for the two of them to be carried away.

They have the mobile phone signal in this middle of nowhere? Since when? Why he did not have the phones for the whole crew but just one Iridium satellite phone for all of them? He will scold Nathalie for missing on that once she was awake. Well that and not getting a better permit. He had a proper permit but it was not for wandering free wherever they wanted, it was for Lhasa and organized tours. The whole group had the same. Well, that was not actually her fault, it was him who obtained those papers.

"Do we have to carry him if he is able to walk?" One of the soldiers who carried him complained.

"He is very violent and dangerous, we want to keep him tied up." Another person answered.

He was violent and dangerous? When was that? Of course, he was not known for being a gentle and sensitive person. He would never get that far in the fashion industry if he was. He was authoritative, stern, decisive, he heard people called him stiff and cruel. He did not care. That was the way business was done, if you did not understand that you had no place in his crew. Sometimes he shouted at people, that was true, he was know to slam his fist on the desk when he wanted to make a point, he was know to snarl and glare at people. He was actually proud of it. He knew what his goal was and he did whatever was needed to do to achieve it. He did not care about any collateral damage, especially if the damage was not to be suffered by him, or his business.

"I demand to know why am I being tied up and handled like this." Gabriel demanded from the commanding officer.

"You will be treated by the prosecutor. We are handling you over tonight." the commanding officer informed him coldly.

He was put in a terrain vehicle and he noticed that the content of one container was loaded in the back of the same vehicle. They loaded Nathalie only when they were ready to go. He had a coughing fit but her eyes remained closed.

He glared at his surroundings. He was asked if he needed water or to go to the toilet, he refused both.

"You better make yourself comfortable. You are going for a long ride." A woman in the uniform told him before she closed the door.

The vehicle started driving on the rugged terrain. As it lulled from side to side he managed to find a position that he would describe as bearable. But then he started to feel immensely tired and fell asleep.

Nathalie woke up as she swayed back and forth. The first thing she was aware of was that her hands were tied up. Then she opened her eyes to see her hands in front of her wearing – were those handcuffs? She knew that Gabriel did not get a proper permit for filming and whatever they were doing. She just knew. There was a procedure, long and cumbersome, done for each individual that wanted to visit Tibet. It was paperwork, but she was able to do that. But if you wanted to do business in Tibet, it was a different story. Gabriel snarled at her and called her incompetent. Then he left and returned with a piece of paper after a day. He claimed everything was resolved. Well, either that, or Emilie sneaked out and took some photos she was not supposed to. Like that military base. Judging form the uniforms of the two people in the front seats, it was the army. Why would a famous model and perspective actress want to take a hobby like photography and then sneak away from her group and take photos of a military base in the distance.

There was her and that obnoxious twin sister of her, Amelie. Everyone knew she was a witch, save Emilie, because Amelie was nice to her. Nathalie thought of both of them as spoiled brats. They came from a known family of artists. And they could name their ancestors for centuries backwards. Even the name, Graham de Vanily, sounded pretentious. They were artistic and stylish, that was Gabriel searched for, they were also twins, which had certain appeal in the fashion industry. But Amelie refused to sigh an exclusive contract like Emilie did.

She entertained herself with those thought not to think how she was handcuffed and sat on the back seat of a Chinese car. Then her eyes fell on a person who was sharing the same back seat. She turned around and saw Gabriel Agreste. Well he looked at least fifteen years older than she remembered seeing him, but he was definitely her boss. Perhaps it was the sun and the cold wind that aged him so much so quickly. Perhaps it was the weak light of the end of the day.

She noticed his clothes was something he never wore and then she noticed her own clothes were also not something she remembered wearing. Well, this was some kind of all weather gear, perhaps they had to get something like that.

She had another coughing fit.

The persons in the front noticed she was awake.

"Do you need some water?" The person in the front passenger seat offered a plastic bottle with water and Nathalie took it. She drank some water and felt better. She glanced over towards Gabriel. He was asleep. If only he noticed her. If only he noticed how hard she tried to impress the man. If only he appreciated how valuable she was for his business and his life. Not that he had much of a personal life anyway. He was practically married for his business. As his assistant, she already spent most of her wake hours by his side tending to any of his requests. It is not like anything would have changed if they got married. Except her name. And she would feel batter, And then they would spend the nights together too. Well, technically they spent many nights together already, just not sleeping. No it was not what anyone would think, they were working. But if they got married then they would … stop thinking like that. You are in trouble in a foreign country, probably arrested.

But it was not as if she had anything better to do than to entertain herself by her own imagination so she did, until she fell asleep again.

Gabriel stirred when someone opened the car door next to him. He was pulled out. His feet were free to walk and he was taken to a nondescript grey building. He assumed it was some kind of a back door to a police station as he judged from the men and women in uniforms that he noticed in the hallways.

Nathalie was taken behind Gabriel. She sighed. She had a personal permit for Tibet. It was no her signature on that other paperwork. But she was not to let Gabriel stay to answer alone. Besides, it was probably something Emilie did. Or Amelie. Whatever. They were not about to take the fall for them. Except, they could not do that photo shoot without the two of them. And Gabriel wanted snow. And they still had no snow, so there was no photo shoot. She could have organized anything, but not the snow. Perhaps if they were in the studio, yes. Even if they were outside in civilisation, yes. But in Tibet they did not make artificial snow, they had plenty of natural one. Except just when they needed it for the photo shoot.

Gabriel stared at the policeman who was handling his paperwork. He expected some cash in his pocket would be sufficient to get them out of this predicament. And some more to a few more persons in the station. He tried to remember how much cash he had on him. He could not. His hands were in handcuffs in front of him. He could sneak a hand into his pocket. But the room was crowded, too many people, his means might not be sufficient for everyone. He needed more alone time. One to one, he would prefer.

Nathalie stood on his side and waited to hear what was awaiting her.

"You are being charged multiple physical assaults, disturbance of government lead operation and trespassing government placed restrictions on movement." The official raised his eyes from the paperwork tiredly. "As foreign citizens, we have contacted you embassy, but apparently you are wanted criminals in your own country."

Gabriel stared at the man. Nathalie wandered what she got herself into.

"The two of you can get rest. You will be transported back to your unit with the next group of students." A government official took the two soldiers away.

Two policemen took Gabriel to one corridor and another two policewomen took Nathalie away. She listed the crimes in her head. They were even provided a translated version of their charges and she stared at the piece of paper in her hands.

She got food and ate it. She looked around the cell and wandered where the others from their group were. She expected to be locked up with other women. Then an officer approached her and entered her cell.

"These are some of your things that have been approved for you to keep." The woman spoke quietly. "We have cloned the content of your tablet as requested by the authorities from your country."

Nathalie thanked and took her things. Gabriel was not going to be happy if the content of her tablet was known. There were plenty of the things related to the business there, the things he considered confidential. But then another thought occurred. That meant the content of his laptop and tablet would be cloned.

Then she looked at the tablet. This was not her tablet. Gabriel got her almost the first one that was ever sold to the public because he wanted to show the image of his company as following the technological trends, but this one looked far more advanced than she remembered. Was she using the same password on this tablet? Perhaps they mixed up the stuff from their camping site and this was not her tablet but someone else's? But who would have such tablet? Even Gabriel did not have such advanced piece of technology.

She switched it on and there was a sign in the shape of a fingerprint. She touched the designated spot with the index finger on her right hand and it unlocked. Her eyes went wide. She unlocked the device using the fingerprint of her own finger. Then the device must have been hers.

She looked at the screen and fell from the chair. The date. That is like … fifteen years in the future. What happened? She quickly opened her notes and began to read. The date was right, but the text, the notes she had made there, that was something to read.

Gabriel stared at the tablet in his hands. It looked stylish, the style was … decent, he would approve of a device like that to be used in his company. Except, he had no memory of ever using it. Well he just unlocked it using his own fingerprint so it was his. Perhaps he did hit his head and had slight memory loss. He did feel rather dazed and tired and dizzy. He checked the date and snarled an unrecognizable animalistic sound. A guard ran over.

"Which day it is today?" Gabriel requested.

The guard eyed him carefully before he recited the answer, including the year.

Gabriel's eyes went wide, he was left speechless. The guard turned around and left.

Fifteen years? How had had he hit his head?

And then he opened his applications. There were plenty of unread emails. Well, he was paying Nathalie to deal with that, what was that woman doing for the last fifteen years?

Then he noticed one email marked with an asterisk.

Who is Lila Rossi? The man wondered as he opened the email.

And then his eyes went even wider.


	107. Chapter 107 - (Not) A Morning Person

A Morning Person

Sabine was the first to enter the dining room before she went to the kitchen. She just had to see her daughter first thing after she woke up and before she started making breakfast. The wife of the hotel owner was probably in the kitchen and started it already. But Sabine enjoyed cooking, especially when she did not have to do it, and there was so much to learn from the local cooking expert such as the woman who hosted them.

She looked around the room. It was a mess, but she expected the kids have moved the table to make space. The chairs were apparently in the middle of the room covered by a thin bed cover. She recognized Ling asleep on sofa, curled up because it was too short, and then she observed the other sofa. The person who slept there had their back turned towards the room. But the body was too big to be Marinette. Then she finally observed what was between those chairs. And of course. When she crouched, she could clearly see Marinette and Adrien cuddled together. She waved her head and smiled. Because they were in their onesies, Adrien cradled her head on his shoulder and laid the other arm over her waist. Their legs were probably tangled under the blanket. Well, she should have expected that. At least none of them screamed in the middle of the night because of the nightmares they surely were to expect after an ordeal they were through.

Then she heard the door open behind her and she quickly jumped over as she expected it to be Tom. And she expected Tom to have a reaction after he found his daughter sleeping all wrapped up in a boy. She stood between the door and the sleeping kids ready to do … anything. Tom was not going to be akumatized over this, those kids made sure of that. But he was a large man, he could still hurt Adrien. And that would be wrong, because Tom liked the boy. She waved her head. Tom would never hurt the boy.

There, at the door was a huge manly body of Adrien's bodyguard.

Sabine smiled and motioned for him to enter. The large man proceeded carefully and quietly, but the wooden floor squeaked lightly under his weight. Then Sabine pointed her hand to show something below the blanked and the huge man crouched. There was a small smile on his lips and then the whole face was adorned with a gentle expression as he watched the two sleeping teens. Then he looked at Sabine slightly worried as if he asked if that was okay with her. But the woman smiled at the large man and he got back to his feet.

Then Tom entered. Sabine put a finger over her mouth and led him by his hand. When he crouched, she put her hand over his mouth to prevent him from waking up anybody and she even signalled to Adrien bodyguard with her eyes to be ready to hold Tom if he was going to overreact. But Tom just sighed and got back to his feet. He turned around and walked out, the other two adults followed.

"I knew this was going to happen one day." Tom sighed after he entered the kitchen.

Sabine patted his shoulder and then Adrien's bodyguard patted the other shoulder on the large man.

"They grow so quickly." Sabine sighed. The bodyguard grunted and nodded and they proceeded to make some coffee.

"We have to wake them up, we have no place to drink this coffee." Sabine sighed at the cups full of the dark liquid with enchanting smell that made their eyes open and their lungs suck in more air.

The bodyguard grunted and left the kitchen. Tom followed him. Sabine arranged the cups on the tray and went after the two men. But she found two large men smiling at a pile of children who slept in the middle of the room. She put the tray on the table and took three chairs for the three of them and arranged it where there was some space for the adults to sit.

"I am going back for food." Tom said and left.

Ling got up next while Ye simply turned around and stared as he tried to remember where he was ans why he was there. Ling went for the tea in the kitchen and waved to Ye to join her at the table. They both took two more chairs. The cover slid down onto the two sleeping teens. Adrien felt it as it fell on his face and his hand went to remove it but Tom was faster as he quickly pulled the cover away. Adrien blinked his eyes open. There, standing above him, was Tom Dupain, a huge man with wide shoulders and strong arms with years of hard work that built the man into a mountain of muscle. Then he noticed the weight on his shoulder and arm. He hoped he was wrong. He looked. There she was. Marinette slept peacefully on his shoulder, wrapped up in his arms. He looked back up to the man above him. The boy forgot to breathe. There was pure panic in his eyes. Adrien never forgot Weredad. He probably never will. He knew how much Tom loved his daughter. He stiffened.

Tom smiled.

It was a bit strained and there might be a glint of a tear in his left eye, but it was a smile. Or perhaps it was a trick.

"Are you all right son?" Tom asked with his deep voice that went straight through the boy.

Adrien nodded slowly. He did not dare to speak.

"Leave them be, uncle Tom." Ling said totally relaxed between two sips of tea. "They were building a blanket fort the whole evening. We had to steal two blankets for us. But the boy still wanted to build a fort. Apparently he never did it in his life."

Adrien's bodyguard grunted and nodded to confirm what Ling had just said.

"Adrien never build a tent out of bedsheets, blankets and pillows?" Sabine asked incredulously.

The bodyguard waved his head.

A tear escaped Tom's eye. He sniffed and wiped it away.

Marinette blinked her eyes open.

Ye held onto his cup and waited what was going to happen next. Ling was pouring the next round of tea in her cup and enjoyed the show.

"Marinette, Adrien. Good morning." Sabine spoke gently. "We hate to wake you up, but we need the space to prepare breakfast.

"And the chairs." Ling added.

Marinette sat up and rubbed her eyes. Adrien got up slowly, his eyes never left Tom. He was ready to run for his life. And grab Marinette on the way too. Because he was not going to live without her.

Tom patted his shoulder.

"Good morning." Tom greeted with a wet voice.

Adrien offered his hand to Marinette without looking down and she took it and got to her feet. She rubbed her eyes and yawned.

"You can take the blankets and go to a sofa." Ling offered while she sipped more tea.

Adrien quickly bent over, grabbed the blanket (that Tom was not holding) and pulled Marinette towards a sofa. She quickly collapsed on it and pulled the boy after her. She was not aware what she was doing, it was too early for her to be mortified about being found asleep tangled in the limbs with Adrien Agreste.

"Just let them be, Tom. Please, we have to move this table and the chairs." Sabine somehow stirred her husband from whatever space he went to. They quickly rearranged the chairs and the table and soon the whole breakfast was set up on it.

"Come on Princess." Adrien nudged the girl. He was hungry. He wanted to eat. The food smelled so good. "We want to have breakfast."

"I am not a morning person." Marinette muttered. Everyone heard and laughed.

"Come on girl. We want to do some souvenir shopping before we leave." Ling called from the table.

Adrien slowly got to his feet and then pulled her up. That was when the girl opened her eyes and became aware of her surroundings. She saw the faces of her parents, And Adrien's bodyguard, Ye and Ling and their parents. The room was full of people, and all of them saw her, cuddled to Adrien. She blushed as red as she could.

Adrien slowly led her to one of the two free chairs and let her sit down. Sabine put a cup of tea before her daughter.

"What would you like to eat Adrien?" Sabine asked gently.

"Oh, I will help myself with anything." Adrien replied with a polite smile and gentle look in his eyes. "The table is full of food." He added once he noticed how much food they had.

With the number of people and the day they expected, the food was soon eaten and what was left was packed for later.

The kids quickly changed and went out looking for postcards, fridge magnets or any other souvenir that they could easily pack in their luggage and carry home to their friends.

Marinette discovered wool. It was local. It was different than anything she ever saw in Paris. And she wanted it. It was not spectacularly fine, the choice of colours was limited, but she loved it. Adrien wanted to buy it for her, but she prevented him.

"Hey Adrien." Ye called and motioned with his head for the boy to follow. "I guess you might like to get something new." The older boy pushed him towards the men's underwear. Adrien smiled. He was getting rid of his father's signature off from his butt.

Marinette followed after the two boys, until she saw what it was that Adrien was buying. She turned around with her back, but she was resolved to remind him of something.

"You have to get some cheese for Plagg. And I have to find more cookies for Tikki." She whispered.

"Marry her." Plagg said no so silently from Adrien's pocket.

The boy glared at his pocket while Marinette went completely red.

"Shh Plagg" Tikki warned quietly from Marinette's jacket.

"Oh, yes, you already have." Plagg teased.

Adrien blushed at those words.

Marinette took a deep breath.

"I know we both still have some food left." Marinette continued. Adrien was not sure those words held any truth in them at least when Plagg was concerned. "But we should get more. I still have some stashed for the other kwami. I will just go to the food section now."

They went towards the section with traditional local cheeses and Adrien picked a few. He was mostly lead by volume and ignored Plagg's suggestions to go and find more smelly kind. Marinette was busy at the section with sweets when he passed a few bills to Ye and asked him to get the wool for Marinette.

Marinette, on the other hand chose many tiny souvenirs for their friends that all of them were covered. On the other hand, Ye showed him some cheap clothes that he could get, plain jeans and t-shirts so he could replace the clothes designed by Gabriel Agreste. The boy jumped to the opportunity.

They got out with a paper bag each. Ling carried a parcel that was large but apparently light. Adrien chose to change after he bought the clothes. Marinette did not pry, she studied her small collection of memorabilia and thought of all her friends and classmates.

They had their fun but the train was leaving around noon, so they returned to add what they bought to their luggage. Adrien had a problem. Marinette took the miracle box back to her luggage. She wrapped it in her onesie and somehow squeezed it all inside.

But the wool was voluminous. He put inside first, so the girl would not see the parcel and then he put all the other stuff on top but he could not imagine he would ever close his luggage.

"Do you have anything to crash inside?" She asked quietly. "It looks compressible." She said as she pressed it with her hand. Then she flipped the upper cover over the luggage and sat on it. The cover slowly lowered down until it was possible to zip it closed.

"There." She smiled at her work once she was back on her feet.

"You are truly amazing, Marinette." Adrien said as he admired her work too. "It was a miracle." He added sheepishly. He was glad he put his pyjama and some underwear with some cheese in the school bag.

Marinette looked at him, but there was slightly strained expression on her face and he instantly recognized that look. It was all Ladybug.

He smirked.

"That was truly miraculous." He grinned his crooked Chat Noir smile. Marinette rolled her eyes.

"Come on, let's go." An adult ushered them to start moving.

The kids discussed, proposed, begged and pleaded, but the adults have not relented.

The kids were not to stay all together in the same compartment. Because none of the adults was willing to sleep on the third lever of the beds, the highest, the one that really required some climbing. But the kids were promised they could spend all the waking hours together, playing games and having fun (under the condition they are not too loud while doing that).

They stashed their luggage and the kids were soon together with a card game between them. Ling was winning while nobody else was sure what the rules were. It was a new card game she got that morning in the shop. Apparently she got each card game they offered and a few more and they had plenty of time to try them all out.

Finally Ye snatched the box and read the rules of the game. Of course they did not play it the way they were supposed to. They tried to play according to the provided rules but soon they gave up. Because the rules Ling invented were more fun (and because they continued to change the rules at their own will). But once they got the rules established, it was Ye who was winning. Ling pouted each time she lost. Adrien and Marinette were too busy exchanging glances at each other and blushing to pay too much attention to the game.


	108. Chapter 108 - Mata Hari

Mata Hari

Lila was not particularly looking forward to this school break. Her mother already told her she was staying for work and her father was not coming for a visit. Lila was given a choice to go and visit her father (who would be spending his days mostly preoccupied with his work), got to Italy to visit her grandparents (not an option if she could help that) or stay in Paris. So she decided to stay in Paris.

Her father was working as the Italian consulate in Lyon. Her parents worked together for a while, they moved to Lyon when her father got promoted, but then her mother wanted a promotion too. And she could not get it in the small consulate so she moved to Paris. As an assistant to the ambassador she had to spend many hours in the embassy offices. And she always had something to do that sounded way more important than anything else. Her mother met only people of utmost importance, they held titles like an ambassador, a cultural atache, a consul, an _honorary_ consul or defence atache. It sounded like a mixture of Mata Hari and a James Bond film.

And yet, she never met any of these fine people, her mother did not take her to meetings, lunches and parties. The girl was completely excluded from the work their parents did. They respected her childhood and her free time. She was not expected to participate. She was left to go to school and sit at home and learn and wait for her parents to return from their all important endeavours. They had lunches and dinners and banquets with all those people with fancy titles. They came back home with stories about all the different people of importance. Even now, when they spoke to each other, it was mostly about their work and all those fancy titled people. She was seldom discussed (in her presence) and she felt unimportant. Well, this time she had a flock of followers who would listen to her stories and give her the attention and importance she deserved.

Alya and Nino both announced their parents took additional shifts at work and were not going for a vacation. That was good news because they would stay in Paris and she could spend her time with them. That was bad news because she expected they would be taking care of their little siblings, and as much as she enjoyed telling stories and the kids were keen listeners, she was tired of it. The prospect of doing that for two weeks was not appealing.

The rest of her class was travelling, at least for a part of their holidays and she was jealous. Besides, she overheard that even Marinette, of all people, planned to travel somewhere with her parents. That was just too much. Lila was the one who travelled to exotic places and had adventures. Marinette was supposed to spend two weeks helping her parents in the bakery. Hopefully she would get a burn or ten.

A strike of inspiration and she sold a tall tale of how was she to spend her holidays. The tale was so long and elaborate and overwhelming that she forgot a detail or two, but she did not care, everyone listened with their mouths opened and cooed while she was telling it.

Then she had one more of her Gabriel meetings on the bench in the park where she was told she was free for two weeks as he was going to be absent. He was going to be absent? And Adrien did not mention anything about travelling with his father. That mean he was to be alone and unattended. Well she could definitely use that opportunity. But why had not Gabriel put her in charge of checking her son? Perhaps he forgot. Well, she was not Lila Rossi if she was not about to do just that.

"Mama, I have to stay in Paris. I have to keep company to Adrien Agreste, you know, my supermodel boyfriend? Well, can you imagine, his father is leaving him home alone for the holidays and I have to keep him company." The girl sold the story to her mother who was distracted by the impending obligation and a need to leave in a hurry.

"We will talk about this later." Benigna Rossi answered quickly and left their flat in a hurry. Later, when she returned, she was bombarded by more demands from her daughter.

"Mama, I could not possibly go to Lyon or to the grandmother, I should really spend as much time with Adrien as I could. He needs me so much. He could not imagine his life without me, you know. He loves me so much." The girl was not even paying attention to her mother's face as she was telling her tales.

Benigna Rossi stopped whatever she was doing and observed her daughter carefully. She knew she seldom took her time to talk to her daughter and she felt guilty about that, but Lila always reassured her that everything was going well and she was an excellent student and she did not need to worry about anything. '_If only her father was here_,' the woman thought, '_we could keep an eye on her, but this new job is much more demanding than the job I had before and I can't afford to mess it up_.'

So she listened to her daughter telling her a tale about great love she had with that supermodel boy. She had to admit that the boy looked good. He was a supermodel after all. And Paris was full of pictures of him. It was no wonder her daughter fell for him. The boy was in her class. Of course the boy noticed her daughter, he had eyes after all. As a supermodel and a son of a fashion mogul he had access to all those girl models and the fact that he chosen her daughter was a compliment.

But her daughter was still young. The boy was her age, but Benigna Rossi was not responsible for him. She was responsible for Lila, who kept telling and telling how much the boy loved her and could not live without her and how he wanted her to spend the school break with him in his empty mansion, void of parents and possibly and parental supervision. The boy was exposed to the fashion world, the models and probably more familiar with certain ways older girls and boys interacted. Not to mention the adults, especially those who had just crossed the boundary that lead to adulthood.

Benigna knew one thing, there was no way she would ever let her daughter spend an hour in that house with that boy that loved her daughter so much and could not live without her.

"I am so sorry darling, but I could not possibly let you spend any time alone with that boy in that house of his without the proper supervision of his parents. We do not want a scandal, don't we?" She cooed to her daughter and gave a kiss to her forehead.

"But mama!" Lila protested and continued her story about her greatness and good intentions and his absolute need for her that only hardened the mothers resolve.

"No, I would absolutely not allow it." Benigna replied gently. "I am really sorry, my dear daughter, but you do not know how crooked and twisted any information about you spending any time in that mansion could be."

Lila glared at her mother the moment the woman looked in another direction. But her look softened and she feigned sadness and disappointment. Benigna was not about to give in, oh no.

"Besides, if you are so willing to keep company to someone, I could send you to your poor father who is all alone in Lyon." Benigna proposed. She knew very well that would silence her daughter. "In fact, if you can't resist you urge to keep that boy entertained, I think it would be best if I did just that and let your poor father enjoy your company." Benigna smiled her sly smile that she quickly hid behind an expression more appropriate for facing her own daughter. But Lila noticed and glared back.

That was a threat. If her mother ever learned about her going to Adrien's house, she was going to be sent to her father. But then again, how well did her mother ever know how Lila spent her days. She embraced her mother and put on a sly smile of her own. She was plotting a plan already.

Lila sent Adrien messages. He did not answer. For days there was no answer. She called him but she got an automated message response saying that he was unable to answer, please call or leave a message. So she called again on the next day and then the next. And she left a voicemail each time. Until she got a message that the voicemail account was full. How was that possible. She expected Gabriel had paid for the account that allowed infinite storage space for his son. Apparently he did not.

(_The full storage space meant he never listened to any of them in the first place nor remove them, and neither did Alya, but that did not occur to her until much later. And he also allocated specific space per caller, or better, Nathalie did that. Because fangirls ..._)

She went to the doors of the Agreste Mansion and rang a bell on Monday. Her mother was at some event for the afternoon so she was sure nobody would check on her. There was no answer. She left.

The next time she went to the mansion, it was Wednesday afternoon. Again there was no answer. Well, she knew Gabriel tended to keep Adrien busy during breaks with modelling gigs and photo shoots and loads of extracurricular activities that she did not bother to follow.

The problem with going to Adrien's house was that she might run into Alya and Nino on her way (and she almost did as she saw the two of them with their bratty siblings in the park on her way back). Fortunately both of her classmates were consumed by something on their phones, Chris, Ella and Etta to notice her before she could turn around and take an alternate route home.

She spent her days browsing the social networks. There were few posts from Adrien about him playing a piano or fencing or something else, totally generic. She sighed. She could not go out and look for him because she told that story about travelling the world and she saw Alya and Nino were in the park close to her building with their siblings practically each day. Unless it was raining, but then she would not be caught dead outside too.

She was going through web pages and trolled a few posts about superheroes. Especially when their possible absence was discussed. And the absence of akuma too. Well, she missed those because she enjoyed it when she saw the superheroes butts kicked, and then they always won and celebrated and she hated it.

And then she got an email from Nathalie. Finally something. She opened it quickly. Something to be sent in a week? She put it in the email scheduler and clicked the link. Of course it was locked.

Several emails with Max and assistance from Markov to open a very important account that was really essential for the fondation she maintained with Prince Ali to save the children of the world and the rainforests too and they just lost an assistant because she was too busy saving some kids from a fire in the jungle … well Markov sent her a password and promised it was all confidential. (Poor robot probably short circuited due to all inconsistencies in the information he got).

Lila opened the locked filesystem on the cloud and started to explore. She was not bored any more. She barely slept for the next few nights.

Her exploration was disturbed only by the messages about the akuma attacks … in China, around that temple, of all places. But she smirked and looked back at her computer screen with a sly smile. She knew well their origin. But those two pests appeared and beaten each akuma that appeared there. Apparently they teleported from Paris. She sent a message to Alya where she expressed her concern and got a link to a detailed account of the attack that she got first hand from someone that was actually in the temple. Lila frowned at the link and never opened it. That person was probably in the temple just like Lila was Ladybug's best friend. And Alya published both pieces. She had more interesting reading to do.

She stumbled upon the scanned book on superheroes. Of course Gabriel had that, he was Hawk Moth, And she saw Adrien had that book. To bad she threw it into trash. Did the boy know that his father was Hawk Moth? He was such a fanboy for Ladybug, so probably not. He was stupid and naive and easy to wrap around her little finger. Heck, he was probably stupid enough to be wrapped around Marinette's little finger. That thought sent shivers down her spine. Well, she made sure that would never happen. Gabriel helped with that.

She skipped the book because it contained no information she could decipher and went further. This was good material for blackmail too. One talk with Gabriel and he will hand over his son for her on a silver plate. Golden if she asked for it. Perhaps she should, the colour would look good on her. Adrien will be hers and hers only to show around, all the girls will fall to their despair in envy. And he will open the doors for her to all those fancy, famous and fabulous people she always wanted to mingle with. Her thoughts wandered to parties and cocktail dresses and she paid little attention to what she was looking at.

She was at her computer when there was another notification from the Ladyblog. It was a live stream. She ignored it as she was reading some unrelated article about some royalty shenanigans, but the darn thing kept popping up. Finally she clicked it with an intention to close it instantly because that action seemed to shut the darn thing up. But the scene captured her. Because there was a mask less blonde boy fighting Hawk Moth. He was wearing black, but it was fluffy and wide, not skin tight, and he had no cat ears. She stared at the screen when she heard the conversation. The boy in the live stream was Adrien. 'Well, so much for Gabriel leaving Paris.' She thought. According to Lila, they were fighting in some nondescript basement or building, perhaps it was even the Agreste mansion. Then she noticed a girl in red and two adults dressed in strange robes. Perhaps she was watching a film. And there was another teenager or a young adult. Her brain was a mess of sleep deprivation combined with too much reading of some heavy magical stuff and tabloids. There was not much she understood from the live stream. She barely noticed when Hawk Moth and Mayura detransformed. The live stream finished with everyone lying on the floor.

Well, there went her plans to blackmail Gabriel to get her Adrien as her show off boyfriend. It was a live stream so everyone knew. Her plans were ruined. And it was Alya's blog that hosted the live stream. She glared at the screen. Well, Alya was going to pay for ruining her plans like that. She sent her the nicest message how she just landed back in Paris and how she just had to see her as soon as possible.

She had to wait for an answer for more than an hour. Alya actually dared to keep her waiting. The answer was positive. But she was not invited instantly, oh no, she was invited for a visit later in the evening, and it had to be Alya's place because she had to babysit the twins. Lila groaned at the insult. Well, perhaps it was for the better. She had time to plan.

And she threw that plan in the water half a minute after she entered Alya's room. Because there they were, on Alya's phone, the photos of Adrien with Marinette. The two of them together in each photo. Adrien was smiling in each of them. Marinette was mostly blushing. According to Lila, the girl looked simply stupid in those photos. Then, Alya told her about the fight and how that girl with a strange blue tattoo on her face was in fact Marinette.

The twins crashed something in the kitchen and Alya left in that direction while she left her phone unlocked on her desk. Lila was never the one to miss on an opportunity, but she had little time. When Alya caught her with her phone in her hands, Lila said she had picked it up from the floor where it fell by accident. And then she left, because she had work to do. She arranged to meet Alya early next day because she would have to fix some stuff on the phone again, probably.

Fifteen minutes after she got home and sat at her computer, she wanted to scream (but she could not because her mother was in the room next door). She could send messages and receive them on the cloned account, but she could not reach any of the messages Alya got previously. So she requested Nino to send her the photos again. She used her best persuasive phrases. But the boy was cautious and sent her nothing. Then she asked about one specific photo and got an answer that was from someone named Ling or perhaps Ye. Well, Lila was not easily discouraged, so she sent messages to those two contacts too. But there was no response. (Because the two were sleeping in the middle of the night). Her anger and frustration only increased as she received no information back.

She could not sleep. She was too angry. So she went back to find the video of the fight and see again for herself the faces of everyone involved. To her utter disappointment, the faces of all the kids who participated in the fight were now blurred. She noticed there was a high demand for pictures from the fight, even possible screenshots of the actual live stream because the faces were not blurred then. She had her sly smile back, she was meeting Alya the next day, she was getting something out of this.

The next day was easy. She met Alya in the park close to her home. She snatched the phone and made an excuse that she had to ran home quickly to do some errand. With some luck, Alya was not going to notice her phone was actually missing, she might have misplaced it a little.

Lila needed more time to unlock the phone than she anticipated (which was none because she forgot about that problem), then she needed to transfer the files, which was a lot and it took a lot of her time. And the worst of all? There was no video of the fight. None. Nothing. How was that possible? Did she remove the video? Perhaps it was stored somewhere, but Lila needed time to find it. (In fact it was streamed from a different phone and Alya had it on her PC or perhaps only at some server in a cloud, but that was just too much hi tech for Lila at that moment).

Finally, the copy of the entire content of Alya's phone was on Lila's computer and she could go back to return the phone. She was wrong. Alya noticed. Lila invented some excuse how she took it by accident as she was in a hurry to reply to some demand for food for poor hungry children who would certainly die from hunger if she did not run away so hastily and Alya bought it.

She sold the photos quickly and to the multiple buyers, but there were no photos of Adrien and Gabriel together, she had no proof they went there together, in fact, one buyer complained these were photos from a family vacation and another that these looked as photos from a school trip or a group of friends travelling. But all of them took what was offered and it was paid.

One journalist actually demanded to know how she got the photos and she simply stated she got them form both Adrien and Marinette directly because they were her classmates. Soon she was asked for an interview, and of course, she said yes, because the girl never missed an opportunity to tell her tall tales.


	109. Chapter 109 - Sweet Dreams

Sweet dreams

Warning: (silly) mentions of drug abuse in this chapter. The chapter is fun and silly. No actual drugs present in this chapter.

The four teens played a game while they sat on the beds of Ling and Ye on the train from Lhasa to Beijing. It was late at night.

The game night was stopped for the first time when the parents of Ling and Ye decided it was enough. Begging and whining won them the next fifteen minutes. But, Tom appeared at the door and tried to summon his daughter and Adrien to go into their own beds in the other compartment.

"Please, papa, can we finish this?" Marinette begged, but her plea might not have won if Tom did not see the sorrow in Adrien's eyes.

"Okay, but you will go to your beds as soon as you finish, okay?" Tom gave them not so threatening wave of the index finger on his right hand combined with one raised eyebrow and left.

Of course they were finished in half a minute, but that did not stop Ling to deal the cards again. One minute later it was Sabine at the door. The fury in her eyes, her hands on her hips and was that fume coming out from her head? The two young teens returned their cards and jumped down from the upper beds to the floor. That had startled several adults who were already almost asleep.

Sabine gave them one more stern look and moved to the side so that the kids could pass by her. Then she treated the remaining two teenagers with one more scolding look before she wished good night to everyone and left.

Marinette wished good night to all the adults and climbed up to her bed. Adrien repeated her wishes, but when he was about to climb, Tom grabbed his forearm from his bed at the middle level, just below his bed.

"I am a light sleeper. Good nigh Adrien." Tom said with a wink and let go of the boy's arm. Adrien wished him good night while he felt cold shivers go down his spine and climbed up to his bed.

"Papa!" Marinette warned from her bed as she shuffled around.

Adrien noticed Marinette sneaked another cookie in her purse and put the cover over herself. She looked at him and smiled. He smiled back. She opened her purse and showed him the content. The boy could clearly see Tikki and Plagg snuggled together. Tikki munched on the cookie while Plagg looked at Marinette with kitty eyes that begged for food before he turned to Adrien with a mischievous glint in his green eyes that glowed in the dark.

Adrien waved his head and reached for the cheese in his bag. He gave a small piece to Marinette and she put it in her purse. Tikki glared at both of them. If her blue eyes were able to kill, both teens would be dead. Because now the purse that was her mobile home smelled like the cheese that Plagg ate. The mentioned tiny black cat deity swallowed the cheese in one bite, but the smell was there all the same. Adrien shrugged, Marinette mouthed 'sorry' with her mouth. Tikki rolled her eyes. Just because she was a goddess of creation did not mean she was not able to cause any damage, quite the contrary. However, her long experience have taught her that the people feared destruction more than they ever feared creation. Which was silly. What if she created a deadly bacteria or a virus, or even worse, a fungus? What if she created a hydrogen bomb? (Plagg was particularly jealous of that concept).

Adrien pulled the cover up and put his head on the bed. He watched Marinette as she watched him. They caught each other staring and then they both smiled.

Nobody knows when they have fallen asleep. Perhaps the sleep sneaked up to them while their eyes were still open and they looked at each other. But they both definitely fell asleep.

It was Tom who woke them up. Both.

"Marinette, you were screaming. Adrien, you were crying." Tom sighed.

"Um, I do not remember the dream papa." Marinette spoke quietly.

"Huh, I forgot what was mine about." Adrien added sheepishly.

Tom suspected they were both lying. He did not understand what they cried in their sleep, they were not really talking in their sleep, it was a mixture of unintelligible screams and cries that woke him up. The man was not sure how long it took, but he woke the kids up as soon as he understood that they had nightmares.

"All right then, if you need to talk, know that I am awake now." Tom sighed and stood there for a moment. Both kids tried to clam down, or at least to appear so. Tom was sleepy so he decided to go back to his bed. He noticed Sabine stared at him. Tom shrugged. Sabine nodded. And that was it.

The next time it was Sabine who woke them up.

"Adrien, you were calling your mother." Sabine said quietly and she climbed up and sat on her daughters bed. "Marinette had a nightmare too, but I do not know what was that." She added.

Adrien looked down, he avoided Sabine's eyes. The truth was that he often dreamed about his mother and woke up crying and calling her name, even before this whole ordeal.

"Um, that is not new." Adrien admitted.

Both Marinette and Sabine stared at him with surprised eyes.

"But it is not the same dream as before." The boy added. He just looked Marinette in the eyes and hoped she understood. And the look she gave him told him she did. Because now he had new memories of his mother, the memories of Emilie's body in a sarcophagus in the large dark room somewhere in the Agreste Mansion. Memories of her in a small room in the temple. Memories of her during the battle with hawk moth.

"But these two weeks … " Marinette started to speak. During the last two weeks he was occasionally restless in his sleep, but he was not screaming and calling for his mother. But then she noticed her mother looked at her. The girl stopped talking. How could she say to a boy that he did not have that nightmare for the last two weeks in front of her mother. How was it possible for Marinette to know that Adrien Agreste did not have such a nightmare in the last two weeks? She knew it. She flushed in her face as she realized that. Everything had changed for the two of them because the two of them had changed, but everyone else was the same, mostly.

"He did not have the nightmares for the whole two weeks?" Sabine asked her daughter who nodded to confirm. Marinette did not trust her voice nor the ability to form words at that moment.

"I had a few other nightmares." Adrien said timidly. "About … Gabriel … mostly. But those were much lighter and … nobody had to wake me up."

"Hm." Sabine pondered what to do. "We woke you up twice in two hours."

"I am really sorry to wake you up with my screaming." Adrien looked down and away from Sabine.

"Oh, you have nothing to be sorry for, your screaming was not louder than some snoring we had a chance to hear." Sabine winked. "But you will get no rest like this."

Marinette slowly and tentatively extended her arm and offered her hand to the boy. He took it.

"We got some tea in the temple. Perhaps that could help?" Marinette whispered.

"Okay. Where is it?" Sabine asked quietly after she considered weather making tea after midnight on a full train was a good idea. But that was still a better option than waking up a screaming teenager once per hour for the whole night.

Marinette raised her free hand and reached the bag that was on her bed. Adrien recognized the small bundle of food fro kwami. Marinette extracted a piece of cloth that contained some green leaves.

"There, this should be it." The girl said as she offered the tea to her mother. Sabine smelled it and stared back at her daughter.

"I am not cooking you this. We will check that bag of yours to see what else have those monks given you." She said quietly.

Marinette's uncle demanded to see the leaves. He returned them with a smile.

"You can cook one leaf in a lot of water. It is not as bad as you think." The famous cook said quietly with a knowing smile on his face.

"But if we were caught entering France with this we would be arrested." Sabine's eyes were wide as she spoke.

"It is not the drug plant, it is just similar." The man smiled. "That other one would not make them sleep, in fact they would probably scream and cry even more."

"Okay, I am making you tea, but I am using only half a leaf, perhaps a quarter." Sabine relented and finally took off to the car with the kitchenette.

"She thinks that was a kind of a plant that few locals chew as a drug. It makes them hallucinate." Marinette's uncle explained. "It used to be more widespread. It was used as a medicine. Now it is illegal, but it is hard to keep it restricted. It grows in the wilderness. One just needs to find it."

"Uncle?" Marinette called timidly. "Is it correct that we would be arrested for carrying that?"

"I do not know, but you did not know what it was and you thought it was the tea." Uncle soothed the girl who was obviously shaken by what she heard.

"Okay." The girl replied.

"I can help you sort out those herbs you got in the morning." The great cook offered.

"Okay, thank you." She said and remained quiet. She looked back at Adrien. She was worried. It was true that she never even thought that some of the herbal tea she god in the temple might be considered drugs in her own country.

Adrien listened to the conversation, he made himself think of the tea and the leaves and all different sorts of plants he saw while they were walking on the Tibetan plain. He tried to remember the bushes and the types of leaves and if he saw any plant that had leaves in that particular shape.

But he remembered the flowers, all different kinds of tiny flowers that would grow just about anywhere, shyly peeking beside a rock or near a larger bush. Then he remembered how Marinette gave flowers to her uncle when he visited Paris. And her uncle used those flowers in his celestial soup. Did her uncle ever use one of those chewing plants in his famous soup? The thought made him smile and almost laugh. Perhaps he was? Perhaps that was his secret recipe? Maybe that was a reason his soups were so successful. His imagination was going wild, but that was exactly what he needed to distract himself from his gloomy thoughts.

Marinette stared at his face. Was he really giggling? She looked worried. Her eyes were narrowed, her brows furrowed. She stared at the boy bewildered by his reaction. She wanted to ask what was going on, but then her mother returned with two cups of tea.

"There you are." She gave them two cups and went back to her bed.

Both teens sat up and waited for their tea to cool down in silence. The adults were back asleep and they could hear few people snoring below them.

Adrien sipped his tea and looked at the girl on the other bed.

"What is wrong?" He asked with a smirk.

"You." She whispered.

He frowned.

"You had nightmares that made you scream in your sleep but now you are giggling to yourself." She pointed her index finger towards him to stress her words.

Adrien smiled back, but then returned to being serious.

Marinette was instantly sorry she asked.

"Marinette" he whispered, his green eyes shined in the weak artificial light. She almost shivered at the sound of his voice. But she shook the feeling away. She had to get to the bottom of this.

Once the boy saw her determined face, it was clear he was not going out of this one using his jokes.

"I used to have nightmares about my mother leaving and me confined in a tight space." Adrien spoke quietly and quickly to shed the memory of his nightmares. "This time it was about … " he looked in her eyes and took a breath. He hoped she understood what he wanted to say. "About what happened in the temple." He finished in one breath and turned away.

"Okay, but … there was something funny." She wanted to continue with 'about that?' a question, but his grin confused her so much that she stopped mid sentence.

"Um yes, totally, unrelated." He drank some tea from his cup. "You see, your mother and your uncle were talking about those leaves."

Marinette was drinking her tea.

"I mean about those leaves that cause hallucinations." Adrien continued.

Marinette almost choked on her tea.

Adrien stopped talking and reached over to pat her back, but she raised her hand, she was breathing.

"What?" She asked incredulously. "You were laughing before we drank this." She waved her cup and then stared at the cup. She flipped at the cup and saw the bottom. "It is empty."

"You are just tired." Adrien smiled. "There is nothing in those leaves."

Marinette smiled back.

"We are both tired. I was laughing because while your uncle was talking I was thinking about those leaves, I mean the real ones, that really cause hallucinations." Adrien stopped to drink more tea.

"Mhm." Marinette confirmed that she at least had an intention to pretend she was following what Adrien was trying to explain.

"And then I remembered how he used those flowers you gave him for his celestial soup." The boy continued.

Marinette squinted her eyes. Following a train of thought of another person is difficult in normal circumstances, but late at night and the thoughts are a train wreck – mission impossible.

"And I got this funny idea … " The boy paused for a better effect, as if he needed one while he talked with Marinette. "What if he used those other leaves, not these ones. " He waved his cup. "To make his famous celestial soup." And then he giggled.

Marinette looked at the boy with wide eyes. Whatever was funny to him was not reaching her. She looked at the boy who was now laughing into a pillow not to wake up everybody else. She started to laugh because Adrien was laughing, because he looked happy, because the boy was probably going nuts, as expected. She covered her mouth with her hands not to wake up everyone else around them.

Adrien sat up still laughing.

"You have no idea what I was talking about?" He asked between giggles.

Marinette giggled and looked at him with raised eyebrows.

"I know you don't, because if you did, you would have rolled your eyes and scolded me, it was so stupid." Adrien giggled some more.

Marinette waved her head and giggled anyway.

After they calmed down, they held hands and looked at each other until they have fallen asleep.

"I don't care what uncle says, whatever is in that tea can't be legal." Sabine muttered to herself on the bed below Marinette.

Later the next morning, Marinettes uncle sorted out the herbs, he explained as much as he knew about them and laughed at Adrien's idea for a soup and explained that he never used any plant that caused hallucinations in his soups. He also explained that the tea they had was a simple calming herbal tea, nothing special.

Note: what is legal in one country might be illegal in the other.


	110. Chapter 110 - I have a what?

I have a what?

Gabriel stared at the tablet he held in his hands. There were many documents and directories with videos and photographs. But it was well organized (thank you Nathalie, probably, she was the one who organized everything for him) and he started with the readme file. Apparently he had some kind of magical jewel that allowed him to transform into a creature with superhuman powers. He called himself Hawk Moth when he was transformed and kept his identity a secret. He looked around the cell where he was held. That could be useful if it allowed him to break out from this jail, he was considering if he should do that instantly. He found a picture of himself while transformed. The mask was elegant, the suit fitted him, he might have chosen a different colour scheme to fit his eyes and complexion and why was the mask covering his hair?

'So I have a miraculous.' Gabriel grinned wickedly.

Perhaps he should transform instantly and just leave using his enhanced powers, but he did not understand entirely what they were. He needed a butterfly of all things to achieve control of someone else, and that person had to be in a bad mood. That seemed rather complicated and difficult to achieve, especially since he noticed he had no butterflies at hand in the cell. But he was a businessman, after all, he believed in (tampering with) the governmental institutions and above all he believed his money could buy him a lawyer that would get him out from anything. On the other hand, he might just save time and money (for the lawyers and bribe) and use the magical stones.

"Nooroo, dark wings rise." Gabriel said the words that were supposed to activate his transformation, but nothing happened. Frustrated, he groaned and his face fell few shades darker, but he grabbed the tablet and read on. He was supposed to wear his miraculous. He looked for it. He did not find it on his clothes, in his pockets, in the items that were returned to him.

'Of course' he thought 'the miraculous looks like a piece of jewellery, someone must have snatched it off me while I was out of it.' His thoughts evolved around how was he to return his precious jewel back. He read further and further.

Apparently, there were two annoying kids with superpowers too, they called themselves Ladybug and Chat Noir. He wanted their miraculous so he created many akumas and those two kids always beaten him. There were many notes on the identities of those two kids. He checked the clues. He also had notes on someone who used to be the guardian of the miraculous. That was some old man, he looked Chinese, he read more and more information about the man, only to realize he was unimportant and that that old man had passed the miracle box to the girl who wielded the Ladybug miraculous. That was complicated and a lot to take in.

He flipped back and forth through his notes. They were very detailed and long. Someone brought him food, but he pushed it away with disgust. He remembered he never ate anything out of the recommendation from his dietitian and he intended to check his notes on that before he ate. He was about to search for those notes when he saw it. Nathalie was Mayura. Nathalie, his assistant, who always organized everything for him, she always listened, she also used a miraculous jewel and could transform and have superpowers. He looked at the photo and smirked. Nathalie looked really good in her super powered suit. He opened pictures of Hawk Moth and Mayura and looked at them in parallel. They looked good together. They looked like a couple. They were a power couple. They worked together while transformed. Just like they did in their real life. Just like he expected, Nathalie was excellent assistant with and without superpowers.

Gabriel was lost in his thoughts. It was him and Nathalie who fought together, they were sort of brothers in arms, that meant they were connected and must have been very close. That was why he was found together with Nathalie. They must have been together, they were probably a couple. Would he chose Nathalie as his wife? He remembered her commitment to work, the long hours she spent at her job, her devotion to having everything done, her organisational abilities. It was definitely useful to have someone like her around. If he married someone else, he would still keep Nathalie around. But would he marry Nathalie? Would he make her his wife?

He looked at the photos of Nathalie when she was transformed into Mayura. She looked magical and enchanting. She looked dazzling, magical, and he could only imagine how strong and enchanting she would look once she was in action and used her magical powers. He imagined Mayura creating other magical creatures that had superpowers of their own and smiled. Mayura was some kind of ethereal being that would enchant everyone who met her. Probably everyone who met her fell in love with him, including him, Gabriel Agreste, and he was the one who won her. He smiled victoriously.

He remembered how he considered Emilie for a relationship and marriage. She was his inspiration and muse, his designs were all for her of lately, and she was aspiring actress. So marrying her would definitely be good for business. And he was already enchanted by her. But the photo of Mayura told him that there was something more magical that attracted him even more.

Then he went through a file where he described all the akuma he created, their powers and how they got defeated in the end. He looked at the pictures, the designs of his akuma suits looked imaginative, but hideous, and unpractical. If an akuma was supposed to retrieve a tiny piece of jewellery from a teenager, then why did he ever create a ten tom baby or that huge Gorzilla guy?

He played one video of a fight and decided to leave the videos for later.

He returned to Mayura. Nathalie was arrested with him, she was kept somewhere in this building, in another cell, and he wanted to contact her. But he wanted to know more about what happened in the last fifteen years before he spoke to her. Did she loose her memory too? It certainly seemed so. Did she forget about fifteen years as he did or less? Or more? He had not idea. But, he was certain that the information he was looking at was probably organized by her and she had the access to the same information.

There was one question nagging him. Why was he doing all that? He liked power, he liked having power and being in power. He was a famous designer with his own brand, he already had some power. But you can always have more, there were persons that powered over him, like that obnoxious Audrey, the fashion critic and trendsetter who run her own fashion magazine. She could trash his brand with only a handful of texts, if properly placed. Perhaps he wanted more power to keep people like Audrey in control, or at least at a safe distance. But then he shook his head, he did not need to know why he was doing that in general, right now he needed to escape the police custody and he believed he could do that quickly and easily if he had superpowers. So he needed to get his superpowers back, fast.

He found an electronic copy of the Book of Lore (he also noted that it could be referred to as the Grimoire). It was full of pictures of persons with superpowers and plenty of riddles and verses. But there were also notes attached that explained several of the texts. Great. He was going to come back to it. But the biggest revelation he had instantly was that there were potentially many persons with superpowers. He did not remember any of this.

Were there some other employees of his involved in this? How about that model of his, Emilie? The photographer? The make up artist? The stylist? He did not find any information on them.

But then he stumbled upon the information about the temple. There was a whole temple that hosted an order of guardians of the miraculous, it was in Tibet and it got restored after a battle with an ancient sentimonster. Well, at least that was a theory he wanted to explore and that was a reason they went to Tibet again, apparently he went back with Nathalie alone. So it was only her who shared the secret and the superpowers with him. He went back to the photos of him and Nathalie, both as civilians and when transformed and had their superpowers. He admired how good they both looked, their colour schemes matched, their suits were made with compatible styles. They looked good together, it was good for public appearance and it must have been good for the brand. He was becoming more and more certain that him and Nathalie were, in fact, a couple.

With these thoughts Gabriel would sleep and stir awake after an undefined number of hours in an undefined time of the day. He would resume reading the information on his tablet as soon as he would open his eyes. It was captivating, it was enchanting, him and Nathalie had harnessed powers from magical god like creatures who were their humble servants. He liked the idea. He liked the idea a lot.

'I have a miraculous and I call myself Mayura?' Nathalie whispered while she stared at her tablet. She skimmed through the initial information quickly, she was skilled at that.

Nathalie was bewildered. Fifteen years. What had happened in those fifteen years? How did she ever get to be in this mess? She was eager to find out. Why were they doing a photo shoot in Tibet again? They probably used up all other wintery locations for their cold season collection and turned back to the location they used before.

She never doubted they were in Tibet for a photo shoot.

Nathalie looked at the contents of the hidden and protected documents. It became clear to her that Gabriel and her were using superpowers to fight a couple of teenagers who had superpowers too. But the question that consumed her instantly was 'Why would she do that?' Because if she had Gabriel, why would she do anything like that, except if he made her do it. Was she, frankly, ready to do any of that stuff for him? She remembered she liked him, she had a crush on him. Yes, she had a crush on her boss. She probably fell in love with him.

Then she remembered. She always kept a diary. It was not a detailed diary where she would pour all her emotions like a school girl (she never did that), gush about that boy next door or in the other class, write about her frustrations about that obnoxious girl, annoying brat or a push over boy. It was never about emotions for her, she had those in check. But she would write up simple notes, mere observations of the daily events, brief and up to the point. And she always kept a schedule.

She examined the contents of her tablet and she stumbled upon several schedules. One was her own, and of course, it was heavily synchronized with Gabriel's. Another was Gabriel's schedule (that did not contain any details related to her alone, like her dentist appointments. She returned to her schedule and noticed she did not have many items that did not involve Gabriel.

But the third schedule was for someone named Adrien Agreste. It involved photo shoots, fencing, learning Chinese … school? She quickly searched the internet for a picture and was soon looking at a face of a fourteen year old boy. The boy was blonde with green eyes. He looked exactly like Emilie and Amelie. That was it. Gabriel had a son and it was not with her, it was with one of those two models. She made herself come over the pain from not having her crush returned, she was a grown woman, a professional, she could move on, she had to move on. First, she checked more facts and the quick search revealed the basics, Gabriel married Emilie, fifteen years ago after they returned from Tibet, and soon they got a son they named Adrien. So she was right. Adrien was a model for his father's company. Great, but where was she in all that?

Why was she doing all this for Gabriel if she was not his wife? Was she his mistress? Was she that stupid? She looked at her schedule again. She had no free time, she had no time for herself. She checked her diary notes, she was either working for Gabriel or supporting Hawk Moth, which meant working for Gabriel again. Then she noticed several notes she started making months ago. Apparently when she transformed into Mayura it took a toll on her health. And she continued doing that, she kept transforming and going into fights and created monsters although it made her feel dizzy and cough. But then Gabriel first told her not to use it and took the miraculous away from her and then she did use it and she snatched a tablet from a former guardian (she made a mental note to study what was a guardian) and Gabriel fixed her miraculous and she was able to use it without further deterioration of her health.

But even reading about her health made her feel dizzy and she started to cough.

She noticed someone had left food for her. She took the tray and observed the meal she was given. Gabriel was always so strict with his meals, she remembered how he insisted he would never eat anything out of his prescribed schedule. And he encouraged (read it as demanded) his staff to do the same. But she was hungry, the meal looked edible, to her starved body it looked delicious, so she dug in and contemplated while she ate.

It did not make sense. Why was she using the miraculous and why was she helping Gabriel as Hawk Moth? She decided to read her diary and took the tablet again.

Her latest entries stated that she was with Gabriel in Tibet alone, they were going to some temple to retrieve any magical objects they could get their hands on. Great. So it was not a photo shoot. And she was alone with Gabriel. She scrolled the entries up to fifteen years ago. She had a lot of reading to do.


	111. Chapter 111 - Adopted

Adopted

The early morning sun filled the train with light. The top level of the bunk beds was above the window, but the light reached it anyway. And that was just … a wake up call.

Marinette groaned and turned on he belly, her face away from the window, but she kept holding Adrien's hand, in fact her grip stiffened.

That made Adrien blink his eyes open, he squinted until his eyes adjusted to the light. There was her, his lady, Marinette, Ladybug, the boy smiled dreamily and held her hand over the gap between the beds.

He was awake too early, they both had a rough night, their dreams were filled with nightmares and they were woken up a few times.

Sabine watched the two connected hands and sighed. What was she to do with the boy? What was she to do with her daughter? They became so dependent on each other. She took their phones away yesterday, because they were both tired of them, because they both stirred or hitched a breath or reacted in any other awkward way whenever they received a message. Sabine made them silence their phones at first, but that did not help the two teens as they kept checking the screens. Then she proposed to take away their phones and promised to answer only the emergency calls. Then both kids gladly accepted the offer. She was surprised how often Adrien's phone lit up with a message. That boy really needed peace.

Tom was startled from his sleep when Sabine nudged him. She put her index finger over her mouth and pointed for him to look upwards with her other hand. He did, and he saw two joined hands. Then she motioned for both of them to walk away and find a place to talk. The large man got to his feet slowly and followed his wife.

"What should we do?" Sabine asked as soon as they moved away from the compartment.

"We discussed this before. We have to see with Ms Leclerc, but I think we cant adopt him." Tom teased.

"This is serious, Tom." Sabine groaned.

"Of course it is, but we cant solve it now, if at all." Tom made more serious face.

"They are bot too dependent on each other." Sabine sighed.

"They are, but we will return to Paris and there they will have the rest of their friends. Now they only have each other, and your nephew and niece." Tom shrugged.

"And us." Sabine added.

"And us." Tom confirmed.

"Ms Leclerc confirmed to me last night. Gabriel has been stripped any parental right after physically assaulting Adrien." Sabine sighed. "He refused to go to his aunt in London so she will arrange some kind of custody. She said his case is too complicated to be resolved in a few days and she prefers to keep him with his bodyguard for Adrien's sake. And she is right, he is the closest thing to a parent the boy has."

"Except us." Tom said with a grin but he himself felt shivers go down his spine.

"We can't adopt him, Marinette will not let us live." Sabine whisper shouted.

"Hm, you think so?" Tom replied teasingly, stroked his chin and smirked at his wife.

"You can't be serious." Sabine whispered exasperatedly.

"I can." Tom grinned. "At least so serious that the two of them believe me."

"Are you planning to … ?" Sabine trailed away.

"have some fun? Yes." Tom laughed and hugged his tiny wife.

"This train ride is really too long." Sabine sighed.

"But the view is really beautiful." Tom nudged her to turn around and look through the window.

"It is indeed." Sabine replied as she waved her head.

Adrien looked at Marinette. She was sleeping. He was jealous. Because she could sleep. He could not see her face, just a mop of black hair that was shining all sorts of colours in the early morning light, because the light itself that surged through the window was orange and yellow, while her black hair would normally shine in shades of blue.

Few days ago, Adrien was looking forward to spend a few days or weeks with Nino before his legal guardian found more permanent solution for him. But now Nino was angry at him, because Adrien did not tell him the truth about Lila. Well he did, sort of, he just did not push it so strongly as Marinette did, he did not insist to expose all her lies, he did not push for things to be cleared up. He mentioned, he insinuated, it was implied that this or that thing that Lila said was not holding water, not a fact, not true, a lie. But he was too polite to blatantly expose the liar. He was too much used to the business finesse where one would expose the liar without actually doing so. But there he was dealing with a bunch of teenagers, not business men. They did not take Lila's lies as insults (save Marinette, and him, if you squint), they were buying her tall tales. Lila was way too much versed in the fine arts of making herself look good while making everyone else around her feel low, or at least, lower than the liar, and yet they were all happy about that.

"What is wrong, Adrien." Marinette whispered. She woke up and turned around only to see her sunshine boy had a dark expression on his face.

"Nino is mad at me. I thought I was going to stay with him when we return to Paris. I have nowhere to go to." Adrien whispered back.

Marinette squeezed his hand. She was not so sure Nino was mad at Adrien, she knew him and she expected the boy just needed a little time to accept everything that happened.

"And he is right." Adrien continued. Marinette's eyes went wide and she raised her head from the mattress.

"It is all my fault. I should have exposed Lila, together with you." Adrien looked at the girl more intently. "She hurt you. She hurt my friends. It was all because of me."

Marinette sighed, there it was, the boy was blaming himself, for Hawk Moth, for not exposing him sooner, for Lila, for not exposing her.

"It was not your fault, Adrien." Marinette smiled. "It was not your fault she lied. And Alya and Nino, they did not listen to me, did they? Nobody did." Marinette could not hide the hurt in her voice.

"So you never told me she threatened you. You never told them either." Adrien looked at the ceiling then back at the girl. "And I have asked Alya and Nino to help me trick Gabriel and Nathalie. Hey helped me. They helped us." The boy avoided calling the man his father.

"Lila is not your responsibility." Marinette fastened her grip on his hand and shook it.

Adrien nodded.

"That, what happened in Paris, that was not your fault." The girl concluded.

But then the boy shook himself. Adrien sighed. He expected Nino had changed his mind. He had no home to go to now. And it was all because of Lila.

"Okay, but I cant' stay with Nino now." Adrien continued in his slightly depressed tone.

"You do not know that." Marinette whisper shouted as she sat up one her bed while she kept holding his hand.

Adrien sat up too. He was a famous model (he hated that), he was also a superhero (he loved that bout could not really tell) and apparently he was getting close to homeless. The insecurity about what to expect washed over him. So he dealt with it the only way he knew how. He was Chat Noir for a reason. That personality was what he needed to vent out his frustration whenever he needed to step away from his civilian life.

"I am a stray cat in a need of home." He teased. Each time he faced a problem as Chat Noir, he turned it into a joke.

"Gosh, I fed you, you will never leave." Marinette replied once she recovered from the shock.

"Well, my boy, you are exactly a kind of pet Sabine and I could adopt, since we can not have the real animals for pets because we live above the bakery." Tom teased as he overheard the last part of the conversation.

"You what?" Marinette screeched.

"Sabine and I are adopting Adrien." Tom grinned. But there was a teasing lilt in his tone that Marinette recognized instantly, while Adrien hoped he heard it. Or did not. The boy was not sure if he would really dislike the idea of being adopted by Tom and Sabine.

Sabine stood by Tom's side and observed the two kids with amusement. If Tom decided to have fun with the two kids she might as well enjoy it.

"You do not want us to adopt you son?" Tom was pretending to be hurt (not Lila's style) while he kept grin on his face and there was still teasing in his voice.

"Um." Adrien looked at Marinette and then at their joined hands. "That would make me Marinette's brother?" The boy sounded surprised by his own question.

Tom just grinned.

Marinette blushed severely.

Adrien waited for an answer.

"Stop teasing him, papa." Marinette was furious. "That was not a nice way to talk to him. He practically lost his whole family and his home." The girl continued to scold her father.

"That house was never a home." Adrien waved his head. "Your parents made me feel more at home during this journey. Heck, you made me feel more at home in that temple, than I ever felt in that house."

Marinette stared at the boy. Was he really going along with this. She wanted to protest. She wanted to tell him that if her parents adopt him, then they can't go out on dates, he can't be her brother, they can't have a house and three kids and they can't even have a hamster because they live above the bakery … but then she quickly smacked her forehead to shake herself from that train of thought.

"So it is a deal then?" Tom continued to tease with careful eyes towards Adrien. Was he really going too far? Was he really teasing this kid to much?

Adrien blushed hard.

"Sir I think I have some feelings for your daughter that would make me not appropriate candidate to be adopted by you." Adrien replied quietly.

Tom changed his expression completely. His face was gentle.

"I am sorry, I was teasing you son." Tom used the word son for Adrien often when he spoke to the boy, it came out so naturally. But this time he used it, both teens winced. "I would have taken you gladly, In fact I hope you will be my son one day just in a different way." And then there was teasing lilt in his voice again and mischievous glint in his eyes.

Marinette groaned again. Her face was flushed again and she covered her face with her free hand while she peeked towards Adrien between her fingers. She never let go of his hand.

"Stop teasing us papa, we are having hard time as it is." The girl begged quietly once her blush allowed her to form words again.

The boy was lost. These people wanted him. These adults wanted him. This man kept calling him son. Tom treated the boy with more care and warmth that Adrien could remember he ever got from his own father. They would take him into the family one way or another. The man was not just teasing them. It was a joke. And the boy loved it. He could have joined the joke if he understood from the start. Now he was sorry he missed it. Perhaps it was not too late and he could still have some fun. And then Adrien remembered something, he wanted to tell Tom and Sabine about the marriage in the temple. His face changed. Now he sported a crooked grin and there was a spark in his eyes. Marinette knew that spark. Marinette knew that grin. It was the same expression Chat Noir was wearing before he spilled one of his jokes.

"No" She whispered and yanked his hand a little to get his attention.

Adrien smirked at her.

She glared between her fingers, still red in her face, still hiding behind her hand.

"Adrien needs a home dear." Sabine said quietly.

"You can stay with us for as long as you need if Mme Leclerc allows it." Tom smiled.

Adrien gulped. On one hand he wanted to continue the joke, but this was serious, he was offered into their home.


	112. Chapter 112 - Fifteen Minutes of Fame

Fifteen minutes of fame

Note: About the previous Lila chapter, Mata Hari was a spy in the second world war, often romanticized in films.

Lila wanted to know that she got something out of this. And there was nothing that she wanted more than attention. Adrien was going to give it to her one way or another. The attention of everyone. She was going to get it. One of the people who bought the photos asked where she got them.

"Oh, I am Adrien's classmate, he was sending me photos the whole time." Lila sing sang her reply.

Of course they wanted her interview. A classmate of Adrien Agreste and the girl who fought by his side in the video, Marinette Dupain Cheng. That had to be good material to show, even if they only discussed grades and homework, the public was thirsty for anything on the subject.

Lila was at home and watched Alec Cataldi on TV, he announced social networks ups and downs. Gabriel Agreste held the position of the down side. Adrien and Marinette shared the number one on the up side. It was a snapshot from the battle video. Lila frowned. She had to change that. She was going to push that bakery girl back where she belongs.

Lila was determined to get Adrien. The boy was a supermodel and a hero now. She counted on him as a gateway to the world of rich and famous. He was famous, even more after he fought his own father and it became common knowledge that his father was Hawk Moth.

His fifteen minutes of fame will pass. She needed to pull the attention to herself. Nobody will want the son of Hawk Moth to model their products. It will become the bad publicity. The media had already turned their attention towards the other people who fought by his side. But all six of them were in China, in the middle of nowhere, while Lila was in Paris and she will have the media eat from her hands. She arranged the meeting as soon as possible.

The journalist who met her was young, probably still a university student, he explained they were just showing the photos she sent him and now he wanted an interview with her.

"Dear viewers, we are streaming this interview live from the park at Place des Vosgues. I am talking here with Lila Rossi, the girl who was kind enough to provide those photos for you to see. Please tell us something about yourself." The journalist spoke quickly and professionally. He was just a beginner and he was given a task to interview a schoolgirl. He was determined to show his professionalism and dedication.

"Hi everyone. I am Lila Rossi. My parents work in diplomacy. I moved in Paris about a year ago and started school here. Adrien Agreste is my classmate and Ladybug is my best friend." She exclaimed while she pretended to be shy.

"And Marinette Dupain Cheng?" The journalist asked.

"Yes her too … is my classmate." Lila added through her teeth.

"About Ladybug," The man checked his notes. "You gave an interview to Alya Cesaire, that you were the best friend to Ladybug." The journalist actually took the effort and looked at his list of questions and tried to steer that interview somewhere, towards the end, hopefully.

"Oh." Lila takes a second. "Ladybug and me are like two peas in a pod. She always comes to me for advice on how to fight. She did it for this fight too." She chose to ignore the last question.

"There you mentioned several other celebrities you know." The man continued as he glanced to his notes.

"Oh you mean when Jagged stone wrote a song about me when I saved his kitten from a runway?" Lila fluttered her eyelashes.

"Yes that and there is a mention of .." the young man spoke and looked at the cheat sheet in his hand.

"Prince Ali, I was involved with many charity events with him. I had so many ideas, I am so glad I could meet someone like him who would recognize my ideas and let me make them come true. We helped so many children and we are basically saving the planet as we speak." Lila just could not stop.

"So, tell our viewers, please, how did you get those photos?" The journalist put his best interested face on.

"Adrien sent me those pictures himself. You see, I knew he was going to China with his father." Lila grinned.

The journalist stared at the girl.

Officer Raincomprix was watching the live stream as his official duty in the investigation of Gabriel Agreste and Hawk Moth. He did a quick background check because he had little time, but according to the data he had, Adrien did not travel together with his father, although both were in the same airplane. He frowned and dialled the number of Adrien's legal representative.

"There is no Gabriel Agreste in any of those photos." The journalist stated simply. He did examine the material he had, but he had no time for any background check. He knew of Adrien and Gabriel Agreste, but that was all he knew.

"You know how Gabriel Agreste is a secluded man and does not want to be reached by the media. Of course he is not in any photo." Lila stated it simply, it was a common knowledge.

"And you got these photos from Adrien Agreste because?" the journalist raised his eyebrows.

"Adrien Agreste is my boyfriend." Lila fluttered her eyelashes. "Or at least he was before he left." She feigned she was crying and wiping tears from her eyes. The viewers were probably fooled, but the young man who interviewed her could see clearly the whole performance was fake. He was confused and did not know how to react.

"I was dating Adrien. But that girl stole my boyfriend." She kept wiping feigned tears from her eyes.

"What can you tell us about Marinette?" The man asked without thinking. He saw the video of the battle. He was certain as everyone else who saw the video that Adrien and Marinette were in love and devoted to each other. He could not tell if they were in a relationship, but the emotions were so obvious that there was no room left for doubt.

"I always wanted to be a friend with Marinette. But she kept bullying me." She was 'shedding' fake tears again.

The young man looked puzzled, but it was not her words, even not the fact that she was lying, it was that she pretended to be hurt. He did not know how to react to a teenage girl who pretended to be hurt in an interview. He knew what he would have done if she was his little sister at home, but the young man was not trained for that.

"She threatened me, multiple times." Lila continued after a sob.

"Why would she threaten you?" The man asked incredulously.

"Marinette worked for Hawk Moth. That is why she bullied me." Lila clarified with a sly smile.

"How?" At this point he was proud of himself that he was able to speak.

"She made me akumatized, several times. She always sought victims. Almost the whole of my class was akumatized, several students for multiple times. Even our teacher and the school principal. The only students who were not akumatized in my class are Adrien and Marinette. That should tell you something." Lila finished her point.

"For how long have you suspected her?" A meaningful question, he congratulated himself internally.

"Oh, I think I knew from the first day I stepped into that classroom. She never liked me. She was jealous of my popularity. She can be like that, you know. She is sweet with everyone on the outside, but when you are not looking, she would push you down the stairs if she does not like you." Lila could not resist trashing Marinette.

"Why was she jealous of you?" Let's keep the appearance he was actually leading this interview, it does not matter if that subject was already mentioned.

"Because Adrien loved me. Because all of her friends preferred to spend their time with me. They could see clearly she was just using them for her popularity." Lila loved to turn the facts around how they suited her.

"But we saw this girl fought Hawk Moth and Mayura with her bare hands." The journalist in him protested.

"Marinette knew Gabriel Agreste was Hawk Moth." Lila claimed. There it was, whenever he was picking up, she threw a bombshell.

"Beg your pardon?" Was the most coherent thing he could say.

"Oh I am certain they would never harm her. Marinette was on their side. She sided with the supervillains, she worked for Hawk Moth and Mayura. She probably manipulated them to take Adrien away from me." There it was, feigned tears again.

"But she was fighting them?" The man asked incredulously. He had eyes, he saw the video, was there something wrong with him?

"It must have been me who changed her mind in the end." Lila spoke sadly, and loudly, too loud to be actually sad. There it was, another bombshell in his courtyard.

"What?" The young man practically screamed and stared at Lila. There were so many twists and turns in her story. He started to doubt his own sanity, but he let the girl roll.

"I wrote to her, I called her, I begged her to stop." Lila was fake crying again. "It was such a huge effort, with the time difference and all."

"You have sacrificed yourself a lot." There it was, no question, just a statement pulled out from him. Lila knew she was winning, she grinned.

"Oh, I could not possibly bore you to death with my troubles. Unfortunately, I lost my boyfriend to that girl for my efforts in defeating the supervillains, but at least Hawk Moth is defeated." She rubbed her eyes as she pretended to cry again. "Poor boy, have you seen him? His smile and his eyes? I have never seen such an expression on his face. She must have drugged him. There is no way he would ever be caught near her if he was not under influence."

"Could you explain what you did?" The man asked.

"I suspected Gabriel Agreste was Hawk Moth." She said in feigned confidence as it was even louder than her speech so far.

"oh" There was another shock to his system. He was prepared for an interview with a normal schoolgirl, he expected a crush on the supermodel classmate, he expected the jealousy, but not an actress and definitely not this.

"You see, I did not want to believe that. Adrien Agreste was my boyfriend and I could not believe that his father would be … It sent shivers down my spine when I remember those moments." Lila continued undisturbed.

"Which moments?" The man asked automatically.

"When I was in the Agreste mansion. You know I was often invited. I helped Adrien with his school work. He had so many problems in school and with his grades. If it wasn't for me … I don't know what would become of him." Lila pretended to be concerned for Adrien, the man before her was not buying it but he wandered if any of the viewers have doubted her words.

"What do you mean?" He wanted her to clarify, he wanted her to bury herself into the pile of her own lies. Because according to the data he had, Adrien Agreste was a straight A role model student and there was no option for bad grades and need of help from a classmate. The boy was home schooled, his father would have taken professional tutors, not this girl.

"You see, I am not certain he did not know his father was Hawk Moth too." There it was, another twist in her tale that confused the man who interviewed her. They told him this was a simple schoolgirl, they told him this would be easy, he took this interview totally unprepared to what hit him.

"So why did you go there?" The journalist asked as it seemed the only logical thing to do.

"Adrien kept telling me how much he loved me. He adored me, you see. He could not live without me, I had to be there for him. He took me for the photo shoots. Finally his father relented and allowed me to be in the photos once he saw that Adrien was not able to function in front of cameras without me." Lila was getting lost in her own story.

"You are referring to those photos taken that one time?" The journalist asked incredulously. He vaguely remembered the social networks exploded with that piece of news in the absence of anything else that would draw people's attention to the gossip. The interest shifted to something completely different already the next day.

"Oh yes, there were many more, but they had to photo shop me out from those photos. I do not like to be exposed in the media like that." Lila feigned being shy and fluttered her eyelashes.

"So you worked for Gabriel Agreste and modelled with Adrien?" The journalist in him wanted facts. He also wanted to ask why she was talking to the media now, but gave up.

"I never worked for Gabriel Agreste, you see, I was never paid, although their sales skyrocketed after those photos with me were finally released to the public." Lila acted as if she was hurt.

The journalist raised his eyebrows.

"I feel so used." She whined to the camera.

"But you remained in the relationship with Adrien?" The young man tried and failed to keep a professional expression because there was confusion all over his face.

"I had to be brave I had to continue going there. Besides, he could not live without me." The girl continued her tall tale.

"So that was why you kept going?" Keep the dynamics of the conversation just keep the dynamics the man kept telling himself. The truth was probably already dead anyway.

"Oh it was not only that. You see I just knew Gabriel Agreste had to be Hawk Moth. I had this feeling inside. Ladybug is my best friend. I was collecting evidence so the superheroes could put him away." Lila was in her element.

"You were collecting the evidence, why not the police? Why not the superheroes themselves if Ladybug is your best friend?" The young man felt logic was also dead and buried just like the truth was.

"I told Ladybug about my suspicions, but she would not listen. If my best friend dismissed my claims so quickly and easily, why would anyone else believe my words,. I am just a simple teenage girl." Lila fluttered her eyelashes again. Any similarity to what happened to Marinette was purely circumstantial, right?

Nino watched the interview and rolled his eyes or sighed or both at each of Lila's statements. He knew Adrien never sent those photos to Lila. He was certain of that. He also knew Lila had Alya's phone for a while because his girlfriend told him. He knew each sentence was a lie. When the interview was finally over, he sent a message to all of his schoolmates and warned them that the whole interview with Lila was only a bunch of lies and briefly explained how she got the photos.

Alya saw the interview. She could not believe Adrien also told Lila he was going to China. Because the alternative explanation would mean Alya was naive and trashed her blog with information from Lila. She watched the interview and clenched her fists. She could not believe what she was hearing, she could not believe that Marinette would be so mean. But she knew how competitive Marinette could be when it was about Adrien, she did score better than Max (and Adrien) in that video game. She did win the whole competition in the end. Alya felt sorry for Lila, she was happy that Marinette went to China with Adrien, but now she was doubting herself. Either Marinette or Lila was really mean. And Alya was wrong in any case, but she could not decide which one to believe.

The rest of the class watched the interview with mixed feelings, but they all trusted Nino and chose to finally accept that Lila was a liar. Chloe missed it, she was getting home from New York.


	113. Chapter 113 - Alya's worries

Alya's worries

Note: part of it is scrambled up from abandoned text. Decided to publish it now. The timelines of parallel stories are not synchronised anyway. Marinette and Adrien are way ahead.

Alya was not thrilled (to say the least) when her parents had told her about not going for holidays that year, not just because they did not travel, but because they both remained at work, they did not take any time off, in fact they took more shifts, and that meant Alya was about to deal with her two little sisters for two weeks. She was looking forward to two weeks of freedom from classes and saw it as an opportunity to chase each akuma that came around. That and she planned to spend more time with Nino, Marinette and the rest of the class.

Then Nora informed them about a boxing tournament where her club was a host and she was busy with organisation, while she trained and participated as well. That meant even more Ella and Etta time for Alya, she loved the girls and she could bring them to tag along even when she met the girls from her class, but she could not drag them along while she was running around and filimng akuma fights.

Marinette was going to China, with Adrien! She was happy for the girl, but as she learned almost all of her classmates had something organized during the school holidays, at least for a few days, she jumped to the opportunity to cover for Adrien. And then the two left and she made a schedule of responses and organized the photos and she was ready. She was waiting for an akuma attack, but it never arrived.

Juleka sent a few photos from the travel down the Seine and along the North Sea with Anarka and Rose (Rose sent even more, but all at once and only when they arrived to the destination). Alix sent her links from her headcam footage that she took while she was racing around. But then the girl left for a week with her brother Jalil to join her father who was doing some fieldwork digging up some old artefacts somewhere. Mylenne sent her depressed messages because her and Ivan went to different destinations. That girl went to visit the mountains and had the audacity to be sad for not staying in Paris. Lila sent a few notes about being with different celebrity each day and Alya gushed about it.

Marinette sent her photos from Beijing from her walk around the city the day after she left Paris and Alya was jealous. The fact that she was with Nino and bragged to him about the photos only to see that her boyfriend got more from his best bro did not help reduce the pang of jealousy she felt for the girl. But she cooed for the cuteness. Nino was kind enough to show her the whole gallery and he even forwarded a few, but Ms WiFi had bandwidth and storage issues while the DJ was concerned about his network traffic (he needed it for the music, man, not to waste it on forwarding the photos, he was happy he got them while on free wireless). It was Adrien who called Nino when she spoke to her best friend, Marinette did not call. She understood, she really did, mobile networks abroad were expensive.

Then came days without an akuma attack, seriously? She did not spot the heroes once, but there were photo's posted online, some of them obviously old, but few of them might have been genuine. She had no akuma attack to write about, and extra time to do little writing so she wrote about missing attacks, possible sightings on known places, speculated new patrol routes and so on and so forth. She was adamant to keep the blog up to date with any information available.

Then, finally, an akuma alert, but at a temple in China of all places? The exact temple that Adrien and Marinette were visiting? And she got the note from Ling, not from Marinette (nor from Adrien). She was excited to do an online lecture about akumas. There were more attacks and she was getting plenty of material to work with in the comfort of her own home (or from her phone while in the park with the girls). She loved it, she could babysit and cover the akuma attacks, it was a solution to all her problems. She was so busy that she forgot to post replies from Adrien to Nathaile's inquires, but that was apparently not an issue since the woman apparently forgot about the kid just like his father did.

She wanted to catch Ladybug and Chat Noir and ask them how they teleported to China, did they have a new permanent wielder or they gave the miraculous each time, she hoped to be able to go there as Rena Rouge.

And then came a new live stream from Ling. There was Hawk Moth, there was Mayura, there was Ye and two monks and then she saw Adrien and Marinette, of all people, facing Hawk Moth and Mayura. The fight was far less spectacular and far more brutal she was used to. The villains seamed far more weaker, physically, that Alya remembered from any fight. The civilians in the video were bruised and battered. But her classmates managed to snatch the miraculous off from the costumes of the supervillains. And that was something she did not manage even when transformed. As if the supervillains powers were diminished.

But the moment two transformations dropped left Alya without words. It was Gabriel Agreste, Adrien's father, and Nathalie Sancoeur, his assistant. She recognized them instantly, she knew their identities and she was proud to publish that on her blog. Everyone who participated in the battle was lying on the floor and the phone soon pointed towards it too.

The villains were beaten, but she did not know what happened to the civilians, were they injured? And where was Ladybug. She sent messages, she called, but there was no answer. She was worried. And she had no news to publish too. She took the twins to the park to meet Nino and Chris.

Finally, she got the information back, they placed a video call with Nino. Ladybug and Chat Noir appeared and fixed everything back. So her friends were not injured. It was unclear what Adrien and Marinette stole from Hawk Moth's pocket. But it was clear Adrien called Hawk Moth _father_. That meant he knew. She had questions, she wanted an interview, and the video call was the perfect opportunity. How long did he know? Marinette obviously knew too because she did not react in any way. But after a mere few introductory questions, she was brushed off and told she had crossed the line, and she was told all that by Nino. She took kids home on autopilot.

Nora was so excited about the fight she repeated each move as if it was a carefully balanced choreography (it was not). She sang praises about the fighting skills of the civilians who faced Hawk Moth and Mayura. She gushed about their bravery, she wanted to be there. Alya just wanted to write her blog. So she did, and as she watched Nora, she dissected each move and every event.

She was getting messages from her class, even Lila who was supposed to be busy with some charity, somewhere. Of course they were all thrilled that their two classmates beaten Hawk Moth and were rather concerned for Adrien once the villains identity was revealed.

She also had to edit the video on her blog and blur the faces of all civilians (save Gabriel and Nathalie).

Lila even came for a visit, because Alya did not want to be separated from her precious computer. Ella and Etta were particularly difficult (or Alya was particularly distracted from babysitting) and that made any conversation difficult.

But she showed Lila all the photos and told her how it was her job to fool Gabriel and Nathalie about Adrien's whereabouts. Lila gave her odd looks and strangled expressions, the girl was obviously not fine with it. She was hiding something, but with her twin sisters nagging about, it was impossible to pry anything out. She let Lila go through the photos on her phone while she went to control her little sisters. Besides Lila was tired after her trip and wanted to go home.

Alya was thrilled when the girl asked her to meet up the next day.

Alya was less than thrilled when Nino asked why she wanted all the photos from his phone. Her boyfriend assumed she wanted to publish them and do a background story about how their friends travelled to China. He gave her a speech how she wanted to profit and gain publicity for her blog.

"That is an excellent idea, I can do that right away." Alya grinned.

"You will do no such thing babe, that is pure wrong." Nino retorted.

And they argued and argued and she finally hung up. She was definitely going to publish something about her classmates, but then she had more urgent matters to cover, and those were her two impossible twin sisters. And, of course, to put more information on her blog.

The next morning her mother was called to tell Alya not to release any private information about the civilians in the video, it was from a legal representative. It was a warning, Alya was pissed. The fact that Adrien even had a legal representative was unknown to her. Her mother was not nice as the woman was overworked and on her way to her next shift.

Alya took the twins to the park so she could talk to Lila. But Lila had to run away to get a phone call related to some charity. Alya reached for her phone, but it was gone. She was bored, but at least she played with her twin sisters for half an hour. That made them much easier to handle. Lila returned with her phone, poor girl was so excited about the charity she mistakenly took Alya's mobile phone.

Then the photos of Adrien and Marinette in China appeared on several news sites and blogs, those were the tabloid types of news. She instinctively checked if her phone was still with her as her instinct told her someone must have snatched it. But the phone was there. There went her exclusive story about how Adrien and Marinette travelled through China. She did not have a single picture to add, she had nothing new.

Nino called her, angry, he told her they were not speaking to each other any more and how she could have done that to their friends. Then he hung up before she could even reply. Her cool boyfriend was totally out of it.

Finally, that evening Nora offered to babysit the twins, but Alya could not call Nino to hang out. She called Lila, but she did not answer, she was probably busy. She was checking the news at random and wondered where did the photos come from.

She was sending messages to Marinette, but there was no response. That girl was so busy with Adrien that she forgot about her best friend, Alya thought and the thought made her angry. She returned to the Ladyblog and answered a few questions.

'What are you going to cover now with Hawk Moth and Mayura gone?' One anonymous visitor asked. Of course, she never thought want was she going to write about once the supervillains were defeated. She could have written about her classmates. She could have written about the villains, she had knew them personally, or at least met them, but she missed her chances to be the first one, to publish to photos, to get the scoop.

And then, there was a live stream, an interview with Lila Rossi, a classmate of Adrien Agreste and Marinette Dupain Cheng, the civilian heroes of Paris who fought the two supervillains while on their holidays in China. Of course they interviewed Lila, everybody knew her, she was famous, she was Ladybug's best friend, she hang out with celebrities.

With nothing to disturb her, she swallowed each word. Marinette was jealous. Check. Marinette bullied her. Certainly she was not so nice to Lila. Marinette knew? She knew and never told me? Adrien was Lila's boyfriend? Certainly Alya heard how Lila visited him in the Agreste mansion, she heard stories so many times, the girl was there practically all the time. Adrien did a photo shoot with her. Adrien sent her photos. Of course he had. And Marinette stole him from Lila.

She remembered the fight, how weakly the supervillains fought. She was certain Hawk Moth could easily snap civilians neck and he held Marinette twice. He could have beaten Adrien easily, but he did not use all his power because that was his son. Everything made sense to Alya now.

That evening she collapsed to bed late and angry, but she was too tired to stay awake.


	114. Chapter 114 - The Family Lunch

The Family lunch

The adults on the train did their best to entertain themselves. They chatted, read books and papers, Tom and Adrien's bodyguard played games on their phones, especially those they could play against each other or in tandem. Sabine enjoyed the time with her family and relatives. But she was homesick in a different way, she missed Paris and the bakery. She felt guilty for missing her home while she was with her relatives.

The kids were playing a card game, again. But this time, Marinette was more determined to win. So she did. And, as after every victory in any game, Marinette did her victory dance. That would not be a problem in normal circumstances. But the kids sat on the top level of the bunk beds.

Marinette wiggled, exclaimed her victory cheer, jumped in the air, bounced of the ceiling and, naturally, missed the bed while she was falling. A pair of strong arms caught her before she fell to the floor. More specifically, Adrien caught her under her arms. His arms were wrapped around her chest. Tom and Adrien's bodyguard quickly raised their heads from their game to see what was going on. Both were too slow to catch her and were relieved when Adrien caught her.

"Falling for me, Princess?" Adrien teased. With his hair in a mess, green eyes glowed underneath, and a crooked smile that followed, Marinette wondered where had Adrien gone, because all she could see was the mask less Chat Noir.

She groaned and tried to pull herself up all by herself, but he did not let her go and pulled her up himself. Tom was relieved his clumsy daughter was saved and returned to his phone and then hissed as he forgot to pause the game and lost. Adrien's bodyguard simply shrugged and restarted the game.

"Luckily your charming knight is here to save you, Princess." Adrien leaned into her side. Marinette blushed and pushed his nose with her index finger without thinking. Adrien blinked and looked cross eyed as he followed the finger with his eyes.

Ye ignored them and pretended to be really interested in the pictures on the cards. Ling hid her face behind the cards she held in her hands and cheered quietly. Her face fell slightly because she expected some more action or something like a kiss, but that did not happen. Well, that was life.

The two young teens soon grinned awkwardly as they realized they were watched, blushed and turned away from each other. That earned them a chuckle from Ling while Ye was particularly interested in one of the cards.

"Um would you two like a rematch?" Adrien asked tentatively. Ling threw her cards to the bed. Ye raised his eyebrows and finally turned his eyes towards the boy.

"You know, perhaps we should go and make lunch." Marinette nudged Adrien in his shoulder. "We have promised papa, haven't we?"

"You mean those noodles we have left over from the excursion?" Ye asked exasperatedly.

"Yes, we promised to make lunch today and we have all these noodles left over and frankly that is about the only meal I know how to make." Adrien grinned.

The other three teens looked at him.

"You say you would know how to make them all on your own?" Ling inquired with raised eyebrows.

"Well, I was counting on a little help from Marinette." Adrien shrugged.

"Adrien." She spoke gently. "Those are instant noodles, of course you would know how to make them."

Adrien was not so sure about that.

"Well then, off you go." Ling ushered them to leave. Marinette took the bag will all the noodle packages they had and they left to the compartment that had a heating unit and served as a kitchenette.

Plagg phased straight into the fridge and Adrien opened it and retrieved the tiny god of destruction.

"Here is your cheese Plagg." Adrien gave him one piece. "The rest of the food is not ours, do not eat other people's food."

"Have a cookie, Tikki. But the two of you have to hide, someone might see you." Marinette said.

"So how do you make these?" Adrien asked as he pulled out two bags of instant noodles.

"I don't know." Marinette stated simply as she put the water in the kettle to boil.

"What do you mean?" Adrien practically screamed. What was the girl thinking? He was counting on her. She lived in a bakery. Of course she knew how to cook.

Marinette smirked back. Plagg was finished with his cheese, he floated in front of Adrien's face and gave the boy an incredulous look, but then he disappeared in the boy's shirt without a word of explanation.

"I do not know how to prepare those." The girl waved two bags of noodles herself. She shrugged, but her smile was telling there was something not said. Tikki floated to Marinette's shoulder and ate her cookie.

"But you said those are the instant noodles and of course I would know how to cook them." Adrien raised his hands and rubbed the back of his neck with his right hand.

"Yes, you would know how to prepare them, not me." Marinette smiled, but there was teasing lilt in her voice and the glint in her eyes gave her away. Adrien stared at her. She was not going to help him? The boy promised her father to make a lunch today from these noodles. He was a dead boy, her father was huge, not to mention she had plenty of relatives on that train, and they were about to be hungry.

"What's the catch?" Adrien asked quietly. He surrendered. He knew she was teasing.

"The instructions are written on each bag. In Chinese." Marinette grinned as she took one of the bags and held it in front of his eyes.

"You can't tell me you know so little that you do not understand this." Adrien waved his head and giggled, the clue was so obvious, it was straight in front of his eyes. And the instructions were really simple.

"Well I probably do. But, how would you justify all those years of learning Chinese from a personal tutor?" Marinette teased.

"You are right. I had to go through years of training to speak the language to be able to read the instructions from a bag of instant noodles." Adrien replied and giggled, he had read the instructions on the two bags he had and studied those that Marinette took out.

"So what is your expert opinion oh Master of Chinese, what should we do with these?" Marinette teased back. Adrien was thinking, he checked the four bags again and took out two more. Then he suddenly got an idea and he was sure it was brilliant.

"Well we see how much water we have to use for each of them and how long we have to cook them and then we add up all the water and put it into one large pot." Marinette's mouth gaped at the boy while he explained his elaborate plan. "And then you would be thankful that I am so well versed in science." He raised the index finger of his right hand. "Because we have to take those which have to cook the longest and then compute how much later we add all the other different kinds of noodles depending on how long they have to be cooked so that they are all finished at the same time."

Marinette stared at him like a fish.

Then she started laughing out loud.

"Those are all different kinds of noodles, you do not mix them and cook them in the same pot." She giggled.

"No?" Adrien frowned.

"no, we have to prepare them separately." Marinette laughed.

"But that … that will take forever." Adrien looked at the bag.

"No, each of these requires boiling water and stirring for a few minutes. We can arrange all our bowls and just pour boiling water over them." Marinette grinned proudly as if she had just explained him the procedure how to remove a trigger from the atomic bomb.

"But here it says to boil them for ten minutes." Adrien took one bag and pointed the signs to Marinette.

"Really?" She asked incredulously.

"Really." Adrien confirmed.

"And these have to be cooked in three and half decilitres of water for three and half minutes. And these in three decilitres of water for two minutes and these are a kind that you just pour boiled water over it and wait." Adrien took different parcels of dried noodles and read the instructions.

"Why do we have so many different kinds of noodles?" Marinette looked in the bag. "Are they all different?"

"Well, I expect they are." Adrien rubbed the back of his neck again. "I bought them all." He smiled sheepishly and Marinette looked like a fish again. "You see, I thought we were going to eat that all the time and I wanted it to be different each day and there were so many kinds of noodles in that shop in Beijing and then there were even more of these in Lhasa so I bought one of each kind." The boy shrugged.

"But there are … I don't know, perhaps twenty small bags of noodles." Marinette said exasperatedly as she examined the contents.

"Um yes, they all fitted in that large backpack we had for the excursion. But I had to return it. Then your papa decided we can have them for lunch and dinner today because we have limited amount of baggage we can take on the flight." Adrien was trying to explain.

"Okay, so we will start making these. Which kind do you want?" She asked as she turned back to business.

"Um, I don't know, I have not tried them yet." Adrien looked at a few packages.

In the end, Marinette took a few random packages because the water boiled already. She opened one bag, she threw the package in the can and asked. "How much water?" Adrien read the number and she poured water over the noodles.

"For how long do these have to cook?" She asked again.

"Two minutes." the boy replied.

She put the dish in the microwave, set the timer and that was it.

"Okay, now those were without cooking?" She continued. Then she prepared the next portion and threw the package into the trash can.

"These are two minutes too." The boy gave her the next package, but she returned it quickly.

"I let you have the honours." She smiled and took a step back while she watched him. The boy did exactly as was instructed. And he was careful to dispose the waste.

Once they assembled four small meals it was time to take them to the compartment. But right at that moment Sabine and Ling joined them.

"Oh, you managed to prepare some food for us?" Ling said with a teasing lilt in her voice.

"You doubted?" Marinette shot back.

"You are quite quick." Sabine said as she nodded over the bowls and smelled. "I did not expect you would have something finished already."

"But it would get crowded if we took too much time." Marinette protested. The lack of patience might have contributed to their speed, but she was not about to admit to that.

"There were a few people who peaked inside. We thought we should hurry." Adrien added. The fact that he was also hungry definitely helped in speeding things up, but he was brought up not to be impatient when it was about food. And old habits die hard.

"Oh, your uncle cooked for two hours on our way there." Sabine laughed. "But he did start early in the morning." She sincerely doubted that the other passengers would let him occupy the common kitchenette for so long if he was not a famous cook.

"Okay, we have these four ready." Adrien said proudly and motioned to the four bowls. "Another is being prepared in the microwave." He motioned towards the unit mounted on the wall. "And we are going to make some more."

"You can take them to the compartment." Marinette grinned towards her mother and her cousin. She was relieved that she did not have to carry them. She clearly remembered her clumsiness and expected she would trip and fall and spill the food all over. "And then come back for the next round."

"These smell good." Ling said as she was taking two bowls. "What is inside?"

"Um, the noodles?" Adrien replied, he scratched the back of his neck.

Marinette facepalmed.

"No I mean, I know these are noodles, but with what, what is the taste supposed to be, what is the topping, you know?" Ling clarified.

"What do you mean?" Adrien was baffled, these are all noodles, they were supposed to be all fine.

"Each is different kind but we do not know, we have not read the ingredients." Marinette replied.

Then Adrien realized their error and started to laugh.

"Haven't you read what is written on the bags?" Sabine asked worriedly. She was concerned if the food prepared by the two kids was in fact edible. Then she smirked. She checked the large bag. There were plenty of noodles left. It was all Tom's idea. And she had an idea of her own. "Well, it was all Tom's idea after all, I am going to make Tom the guinea pig and he is going to be the first to try what _his_ daughter and her _boyfriend_ have prepared."

Marinette groaned. Adrien blushed.

"Marinette does not understand what is written on these bags anyway, I guess." Ling sighed exasperatedly.

"Yes we have, but we just read the instructions, not the ingredients. We forgot to read what kind of taste they are supposed to be." The boy spoke between laughs.

"We did cook them according to the instructions, maman. And I can read the bags. Some of it. Anyway." Marinette reassured her mother.

"Well, they will be fine whatever they are." Sabine said. "Besides, uncle Wang can surely detect what these are only by the way they smell and he has his spices." Ling doubted that, she ate these often and was never able to tell them apart, except the very spicy ones.

Sabine swiftly took two bowls and carried them away. It was Tom's idea and a deal between Adrien and Tom, she just hoped they will all survive without digestive issues.

"Yeah, uncle Wang will make them all better." Ling sighed.

"What do you mean better?" Adrien teased while he pretended to be offended.

"If you do not like what you got then you are not hungry, young lady." Marinette put her hands on her hips as she mock scolded her older cousin.

"You know, some people chose what they eat because they have to not because they are picky." Ling retorted. "They can be allergic, or vegetarian or simply distaste some particular kinds of food."

"Don't worry, Ling, uncle Wang will sort it all out." Sabine called after her niece. "Take it and let them continue the preparations."

Ling walked away and carried two steaming bowls with her.

The next round of four small meals was ready in a minute because the microwave just finished. So the kids prepared the instant ones, but this time Adrien was reading the ingredients.

"So this one is chicken." He held one bag. "And this one is beef." He raised the other hand. "And both are ready instantly."

He opened both bags and put the contents into bowls while Marinette poured water over them.

"They smell exactly the same." Marinette concluded.

Adrien smelled the food and frowned. "You are right, perhaps I could ask Plagg?"

"I can tell you that none of them contains cheese." Plagg muttered from Adrien's shirt.

Sabine and Ling were back for the next set of four bowls.

"Uncle Wang said it is edible." Ling announced as soon as she entered.

"Tom is eating it. And your bodyguard too." Sabine smiled. "I guess it is in their job description."

Marinette glared at her mother for the teasing. Adrien rubbed the back of his neck shyly and looked between Sabine and Marinette, he was not sure if he was scolded, praised or teased.

"Oh, don't worry, I am just teasing, you did a good job. You can't make a culinary masterpiece from instant noodles." Sabine reassured the boy, she swiftly took two more bowls and disappeared.

Marinette studied several packages, they were more fancy with heavily edited photos of food on the bags while the other bags mostly had simple drawings. Actually the drawings were so simple that it was sometimes impossible to define what was it supposed to represent.

Adrien was busy as he was already starting on the next round.

"Those are all vegetarian." Ling pointed to one particular sign.

"Ah, okay." Marinette inspected the sign.

"I'd like one of those." Ling noted while she was leaving and carried two more portions.

"So what is inside these?" Marinette asked Adrien as she tried to guess from the pictures on the packages. Adrien was behind her back and leaned over her shoulder, but then he could not resist and leaned on her back while he wrapped his arms around her.

"This is with mushrooms." Adrien pointed to one. "And vegetables and … spicy vegetables."

"Lets make all three." The girl proposed with a smile.

Adrien was doing very well on his own, he measured and poured the boiling water in the bowls while the girl studied the contents of the bag.

"Why are these two packages empty?" She asked and retrieved two plastic wrappings that were not opened but were obviously void of any content.

Adrien finished with pouring the water and proceeded to stir.

"Let me see." He asked quietly. Marinette put the two empty packages in front of him and stirred the contents once while Adrien took the packages and read the ingredients.

"These are with cheese." He groaned. "Plagg, do you have anything to say for yourself?"

"You need a lot of calories when you climb mountains." Plagg replied flatly and never bothered to move from Adrien's pocket."And you should believe me that I was hungry if I ate that."

"Hush, Plagg." Marinette whispered.

Sabine and Ling were back.

"Those portions are a bit small, you know, so they already took out other food they brought, you can come back with us and take the food with you." Sabine said and took one bowl and the bag with uncooked packages. Marinette and Adrien first tidied up the space and then followed.

"Do you like spicy food Adrien?" Ling asked with a hidden note in her voice. Marinette frowned.

"How spicy?" Adrien was suspicious.

"Hot spicy." She replied flatly.

"Don't take any spices she gives you Adrien." Sabine whispered to the boy. Ling heard her and frowned.

"Do you think they actually ate what we cooked?" Adrien asked Marinette quietly. She shrugged.

"Don't worry, _they_ did eat the food you cooked." Ling replied.

"Actually, everyone who tried your food said it was good." Sabine smiled.

The two teens were met with smiling faces and another task. Apparently the prize for making lunch was that they were also making the dinner.


	115. Chapter 115 - I have a What Again?

I have a what again?

Nathalie read the brief notes in her diary quickly. It was Emilie who found two miraculous jewels and a book of Lore while they were in Tibet. She gave one of the miraculous jewels to Gabriel against the wishes of her sister Amelie. Emilie married Gabriel and they got a son. There was little to none about Nathalie's personal life. Apparently she had none.

That was great, she had little to read, actually not so great, she had no life, but why Nathalie stayed employed with Gabriel? It was not a bad job considering the company was going well, it grew quickly, Emilie was his muse (she had been ever since they first met) and he made her the face of the brand. And she gave him a son within a year after they got married.

Everything was clear. Nathalie was there to take care everything was going smoothly. She kept schedules, she organized meetings and maintained all the duties of the personal assistant. She organized home schooling for Adrien. And she stared at the list of activities the boy was involved since he was a toddler. He modelled baby clothes practically since he was born. Gabriel was adamant about his family wearing only his brand.

Nathalie did not bother to contemplate what kind of life the boy had. She was reading and reading and reading and it took her a while, but finally she realized almost the complete absence of any personal notes, there was nothing about herself. She had regular doctor's appointments, but everything was fine.

She also got a diet schedule from the same nutritionist that Gabriel employed for his family and apparently many of his employees. Everyone was to maintain their appearance. Nathalie looked at the empty bowl of food and scowled. She was probably not supposed to eat that. Was she going to get fired because she ate something outside of the schedule? She looked around. She was in custody, she was arrested in a foreign country. Getting fired was probably something she should not worry about right now. Besides, from reading her diary, it might be good for her.

She lost track of time. It was dark. Should she go to sleep? She continued reading instead.

Her diary did not contain anything about her feelings nor what kept her with Gabriel. Surely, she got a salary increase regularly and she had a well paid and well positioned job in a fashion world, but she was a personal assistant, not a manager, she could have easily switched jobs and moved on. Why did she keep working for the man she had a crush on while he obviously loved someone else, was married to her and they had a child.

Then she noticed she kept track of his mood, he was mostly sour and authoritative with anyone who worked for him (which was most of the people he interacted with on a daily basis, including his family). He was cold to his acquaintances. She could not remember he ever called anyone his friend and her diary did not add to that information.

The absence of anything on her personal life bothered her. She learned more about Gabriel than she learned about herself. Was she really that obsessed with the man? A thought passed her mind. She rejected it several times until it hit her full blow. If she was so obsessed with him, that would explain why she stayed, why she never moved on, why she worked so much she had no personal life and why in the end she became Mayura.

But why was she Mayura, why was not Emilie Mayura if she was his wife?

There were few vague notes about Emilie and Gabriel having their magical exercises in their lair somewhere in their mansion and she had to cover for them. She recognized it mostly from the list of excuses she assembled for them so that she could randomly pick from the list when needed.

Her notes revealed, however, how much time she spent purchasing different items for Adrien, the list of toys and gadgets was endless. Then there were names of different tutors for the boy and apparently she often went through his progress. She found early on that the boy expressed his wish to go to a public school like his friend Chloe. The name was Chloe Bourgeois. That was probably the daughter of Andre and Audrey.

There were notes of Emilie getting sick. Nathalie read how her obligations regarding Adrien increased steadily while Emilie's condition worsened. Finally, there was a day when Emilie did not wake up. Practically all the signs of life disappeared. Gabriel decided to keep her body hidden in the lair where he found her.

The man spent days scheming and planing, but it was Nathalie who organized the sarcophagus according to the detailed instructions from Gabriel. The man was devastated and at the same time he was determined to bring her back. He said he had a solution, he said he knew how, he said there were things he had to do. And she supported him.

There was a note that Gabriel created an akuma.

There was a note that Adrien started the public school.

She noticed she had a lot more notes on the magical superpowers since that time, because she had very little until then.

Suddenly a thought occurred to her. Emilie was practically dead, she was out of commission, she was gone. Officially she was gone missing. She was presumed dead (according to her notes).

Did Nathalie get involved with her boss after that? Did they get together? Were they a couple? She quickly went back at the photos of them. They looked good together, she had to admit that. They looked even better together while they were transformed. She used to dream about their life together.

She returned to her diary. There were notes that insinuated that Gabriel returned her affections. She noted each accidental touch. Accidental? There was nothing accidental about Gabriel. Everything was intentional. And he never touched anybody, unless he absolutely had to, a handshake was a chore for the man.

(He might have liked to touch Emilie but Nathalie never wrote that in her diary).

And there it was, a list, each day, apparently she gushed about that if she noted it in her diary. It was always about what he did, nothing about how she felt about it. Then there were hugs and then there was more. Her eyes went wide. There was a lot more. But she still did not write a single word about her feelings, or his, just the observed behaviour.

And yet, the man was determined to bring his wife back. She noted that her notes had changed and after a while that was transformed into 'he kept wanting to bring Adrien's mother back'. Was the change real, did it come from Gabriel or was that Nathalie's wishful thinking?

She reached the end of her notes. They went to Tibet to the temple to find more magical stones. They reached the temple, created a number of monsters and those two teenagers with superpowers found them and fought them there. But what happened in the end?

She scrolled through her notes. They were finished. She needed another source of information to fill in the gaps. But which source of information was reliable? You could find anything on the internet. She noticed she often consulted the Ladyblog for the akuma battles. Perhaps that was a good place to start? She put down her tablet to concentrate on her thoughts. If she trusted the information form that site before she lost her memory, perhaps she should use it now. Then again, she contemplated as she noticed it was daytime again, while she was reading her own actions in her diary, she started to doubt her own line of thought, her own motives, her own sanity.

She sighed, she kept reading her diary, she slept and ate, but she did not know how many hours or days have passed. And she was tired. But, it was not like she had any other clue or anything else to do. She clicked on the link towards the Ladyblog. But she did not get a chance to study what was there.

"I got here as soon as I could. I was assigned to you as a legal representative." A woman in a plain grey suit stood on the other side of the bars.

Gabriel stared at a man in an expensive suit from Gabriel brand. The man insisted he was his lawyer. The man also apologized it took him three days to get to Lhasa from Paris. Gabriel stared down at the man. Was he reading all those materials for that long? He did sleep and he might have eaten something, he did not remember everything, it was all a blur. He ignored being tired. That feeling was for the weak. He was Gabriel Agreste, the fashion mogul (and according to the information he read he was also Hawk Moth).

"I have no memory of any of the events I am charged with here." Gabriel finally responded, but his tone was authoritative.

"That does not excuse you, sir. There is video evidence of the events." The lawyer spoke patiently, he was paid by the hour, and he was paid well. "And the police did retrieve material evidence from your mansion." The man concluded politely.

"That does not change the fact that I do not remember. Video material can be forged." Gabriel snarled.

"The video evidence is considered genuine by all the experts that have examined it so far." The lawyer was calm. He was a professional. This was not his first meeting with Gabriel Agreste, although the man had to admit that he did not expect such criminal charges against his client. But he was ready for everything when he signed the contract. And that was what he got.

Gabriel wanted to retort, but then he decided to wait and see what this man had to offer. He nodded for the man to proceed.

"France wants you extradited for the crimes committed there. China does not release the persons facing criminal charges for the crimes committed in China. But they might make an exception." The man spoke slowly and looked at Gabriel with careful eyes, after all his client used to be Hawk Moth. "There was no permanent damage nor serious injuries so we have a good case." The lawyer did not hide his satisfaction.

Gabriel nodded.

"What have I done in France?" Gabriel snarled. He read the documents, he knew what he did. But he decided to pretend even for his lawyers.

The lawyer stared at the man before him.

"You were a villain known as Hawk Moth, sir." The man replied flatly.

Gabriel nodded but his icy cold blue eyes were piercing holes.

"We will come back to that." The lawyer quickly continued, it was not a subject he wanted to dwell into. "Right now I am here to inform you that you have been stripped of parental rights."

Gabriel produced absolutely no reaction. What was this man talking about?

"Your son is assigned a legal guardian. What do you want me to do about that?" The lawyer stated simply and stared at his client. The normal reaction would be 'what are my options' but the lawyer already knew that was not going to happen with this client.

Gabriel was silent. What he wanted to do about what? His son? His parental rights?

"My son?" Gabriel frowned.

"Yes, your son sir." The lawyer confirmed calmly.

"I do not have a son." Gabriel waved his head.

"Well, legally, you have acknowledged him, you do have a son." It was not the first time he said that to a client, that was sure.

"What is his name?" Gabriel demanded.

"Adrien Agreste." It came out quickly and naturally.

"How old is he?" The fashion mogul just could not believe this man was his lawyer and was telling him such tall tales.

"He is fourteen years old." The lawyer continued and then recited a few basic facts.

"Who is his mother? How can I have a son if I am not married?" Gabriel continued with his questions. The lawyer blinked back.

"What is the last thing you remember sir?" The lawyer asked back with narrowed eyes.

"I lost the memory of my life for the last fifteen years." Gabriel replied coldly.

Then the lawyer explained the facts as he knew them. The lawyer explained to him that his identity was revealed. Gabriel demanded from his lawyer to get him the Butterfly miraculous back. The lawyer stared at him for a long time in silence before he resumed his original explanation. He was still explaining when the guard came and asked him to leave and return on the next day.

Gabriel looked at the empty space before him. He was married to Emilie. It was not Nathalie. Of course he married Emilie, she was his inspiration, she was his muse, she was the face of his brand. She had two flaws, her attitude and her twin sister Amelie. But now this lawyer told him his wife was missing, presumed dead, and they had a son.

He took his tablet and searched for the name of his soon. He got millions of results, mostly photos, of a blonde boy with green eyes. He looked a lot like his mother, he looked like Emilie, nothing like him. Gabriel sighed. But then he looked at the photos more carefully.

Gabriel expected his son would be a carbon copy of him, not the woman who had given birth to him. He expected cold blue eyes, not warm green. He expected a neat and serious boy in shirt, tie, vest, suit trousers and shoes. He expected a serious young man. He was looking at a boy in a black t-shirt and a white over shirt, jeans and orange (why in the world that colour?) sneakers. In the place of neatly cut blonde hair licked into a sleek style, he was looking at a carefree hairstyle, it was obviously carefully arranged, but it was carefree, not serious. It was slightly too wild for his liking. The boy had a practised smile that reminded Gabriel of Emilie.

And there was the perfume add. "Radiant? Carefree? Dreamy?" why would a son of his be radiant, carefree and dreamy? He was an heir to the fashion empire. He was supposed to be serious and involved in the business. A teenage son of his was supposed to be … he did not know what a teenage son of his was supposed to be, he did not remember he ever had plans for a son, to have one, to raise one, and what he expected him to do. But if anyone asked him, he expected his teenage son would be hanging around CEOs and studying stock markets and sale statistics, perhaps designs and materials, he definitely did not expect his son would be a model. That was something Emilie did. That was something his mother did.

His lawyer told him he was stripped from the parental rights but Gabriel did not know why. Perhaps it was because he was arrested in China. Perhaps it was because he was Hawk Moth. That returned his thoughts back to his original concern. He was Hawk Moth but he apparently had no magic jewel that enabled him to transform. He turned back to the tablet, finally he stumbled on the information on Emilie's condition and the sarcophagus. There was nothing on his son.


	116. Chapter 116 - Trust

Trust

Alya did not have her phone. Alya was furious. She was angry. She was mad.

One morning, after the Lila interview, few days after Adrien and Marinette won over Hawk Moth, officer Roger Raincomprix was at her door. It was early, her parents and Nora were all at home, they even cancelled their obligations for the day once they faced the possible charges. Alya was sleep deprived over everything that had happened, too much to read, too much to watch, one particular interview over and over.

Her phone was seized and her computer too. Apparently you can't just sell photo's of minor's to the media (especially those who suddenly have a legal representative who works in the child's interest and not for a company) and careful inspection of image properties revealed they were previously stored and even modified on her phone.

"The photos were sold by Lila." Alya frowned. "She said so in her interview."

"We are also doing the investigation on Hawk Moth and we have the information that there might be incriminating evidence on your hardware." Sabrina's father stood proud and tall while he recited the reasons behind his visit. He was not spilling that he got information from an anonymous source, but the girl who ran Ladyblog would definitely be someone to question.

"Evidence? Against Hawk Moth? On my daughter's phone and computer?" Her father asked incredulously. He knew his girl was running the Ladyblog, but he was also certain she already published anything even remotely worth watching.

"Where did you get that information?" Marlena Cesaire insisted. She knew from running a restaurant, an anonymous tip, a detailed inspection, nothing found but many hours if not days of lost work. And she was loosing time as they spoke.

"I can't release that information to you." The officer replied solemnly. He was not obliged to.

"Is she incriminated?" Marlena insisted.

"That depends." Officer roger loved having the authority.

"On what?" Otis Cesaire practically snapped.

"Have you had the phone with you the whole time?" Officer Roger asked Alya in the presence of her parents (while Nora, Ella and Etta were eavesdropping behind a door, in vain, the twins were arguing, Nora could not understand what was said on the other side).

"I have, well except when Lila took it with her by accident, but she returned it within an hour." Alya replied with a shaky voice.

"Lila Rossi?" Officer Roger asked with raised eyebrows.

"Yes, she is the daughter of an Italian diplomat, Benigna Rossi." Alya confirmed.

"And exactly when and where that happened?" The police man asked as he took notes.

Alya explained the time frame and the place where she was with the twins.

"We have independent evidence that would support your claims. Unfortunately that is not sufficient to clear you young lady, nor your family." The police man told her with a less stern expression. The evidence was indeed the Lila Rossi interview where she admits selling the photos herself.

"What?" Marlena screamed. Her husband had a dark expression on his face. Alya sunk in her chair.

"It is a matter for computer experts if they can confirm my doubts. I will have to return later after we examine the retrieved items." The policeman greeted and left.

Nora appeared in the living room followed by Ella and Etta.

"What happened? What is going on? What is wrong with Alya? Why are all of you so angry?" Ella and Etta kept asking, but everyone kept making excuses that the two girls never bought. They were allowed to watch cartoons on TV while the two adults, Nora and Alya had a talk in Alya's room.

"Are we being investigated because of that Lila girl?" Nora snapped. Her parents were not happy with Alya and suspected the same, but they both frowned at their older daughter playing the role of a parent.

"You don't understand. Lila is so wonderful. She would never do anything like that." Alya protested. "She helped me so much." _She was babysitting the twins while I escaped to the cinema with Nino_. "She gave me an interview for my blog."_ It was well watched and there were a lot of comments_.

"How wonderful she really is?" Her mother asked gently. Nora was steaming in the corner with her arms crossed. Her father was looking through the window.

"She organizes charities with Prince Ali, Jagged Stone made a song about her, she is the best friend with Ladybug..." Alya started counting on her fingers.

"That is a bunch of bullshit!" Nora snarled from her corner. She met the girl while she visited Alya, there was no way that little sly twig was cool, but nobody is a best friend with Ladybug and tells that to anyone.

"You can't say that, none of you had even seen the interview." Alya shouted. And that was the truth, her parents were working, Nora was babysitting and they all had something better to do than to watch an interview of some wannabe.

"Could you tell us what happened, from the start?" Her father was quiet but there was threat in his voice.

Alya sighed. Where was the start? The police left few minutes ago, they took her phone. They took her computer. They were about to take her complete statement. Her parents demanded to know the facts. She screamed she wanted to know the facts. But she could not believe what officer Roger Raincomprix was telling them. He apologized he could not tell all the facts, that the investigation was ongoing. The interview with Lila rolled in her head, over and over again, she could not throw the words out from her brain, those were Lila's words. She did not count how many times she replayed the interview last night. She had to pick a side, and she picked Lila's side, because she was Ladybug's best friend. Then she remembered what Sabrina's dad said.

"They took my phone and computer because Marinette worked with Hawk Moth." Alya stated simply. Nora groaned. Her mother rolled her eyes. Her father was waving his head. All three of them saw the video of the fight. Every Parisian did, it was a must. Marlena was sick to her stomach when she watched the kids and two monks stand up to two villains with superpowers. Otis was angry. Nora … Nora memorized each move.

"She fought Hawk Moth." Nora groaned. "She fought Hawk Moth and Mayura. She snatched the brooch off from Mayura." Her older sister stressed each word.

"They are doing an investigation on Hawk Moth and Mayura and they believe you have the information on them because you ran the Ladyblog." Her mother told her calmly. She tried to make it all sound like a compliment. She firmly believed that nobody present helped the villains.

"But they said ..." Alya protested.

"They also took your phone because someone sold photos of Adrien and Marinette to the media. But the owner stamp in the files was leading to your phone, Alya." Her father said flatly with his arms crossed while he looked through the window.

"Have you sold the photos to media?" Her mother repeated the question that the police had asked her before.

"No." Alya screamed. "I have my own blog, I would have published them myself if I wanted them published. Besides, Lila said in her interview … " Nora was rolling her eyes at that. "… that she sold them to the media."

"Well, then she stole the photos from your phone or your computer or something, that is an obvious explanation." Marlene sighed.

"No, she did not, she is too nice for that, she got the photos from Adrien." Alya whined, but she started to doubt her own words as soon as she spoke them.

"You are too much overwhelmed with everything to know the truth dear." Her mother told her.

"That Lila girl had only blinded you, if I could get my hands on her in a ring one day." Nora snarled with clenched fists.

"You will do no such thing, Nora." Her father said. "As much as we all wished you to." He added darkly. "It is important for you sister to come to terms with what just happened."

"Okay, now, from the start?" Nora repeated her father's request.

"She is our daughter Nora." Their mother scolded her oldest daughter.

"Yes, Nora, you can stay, but keep to yourself, okay?" Their father said quietly with a look of a serial killer aimed at the window. "Now, from the start!"

"Marinette was jealous of Lila from the moment Lila first stepped into the classroom because Adrien liked her." Alya blurted out. "She made Lila akumatized on her first day of school."

Nora stiffened her crossed arms. She remembered very well how she got akumatized, because Marinette helped Nino win arm wrestling match against her. And she knew Marinette loved Adrien because the girl had no ability to hide that. And if Adrien really liked Lila … well it was plausible.

"How do you know that?" Their father asked bluntly.

"Lila told me how Adrien had eyes for her from the first day she started school." Alya replied. "Then Marinette suspected Lila told lies about saving Jagged Stone's kitten and ..." The girl continued.

"Jagged stone never had a kitten. That should be easy to verify." Nora said eagerly, both their parents glared at her for a moment while Nora did the search on her phone and showed the results to her mother.

"The only source of that information is your blog Alya." Marlena said calmly. The older girl kept quiet not to draw the wrath of their parents. Otis determinedly stared through the window.

"Lila was Adrien's secret girlfriend, they had to keep it a secret because of the fans and because of Marinette. That is why it had to be kept a secret and she told me only recently." Alya continued undeterred, she heard all those arguments from Marinette before, but Lila knew batter, Lila knew Jagged, she saved his kitten for god's sake.

"But you were helping Marinette to get together with Adrien … how recently?" Nora blurted. Their parents allowed the intrusion. There was more information with Nora than both of them knew.

"Yesterday … " Alya replied honestly.

"Did anyone else know about that relationship?" Her mother asked with a raised eyebrow.

"His father let Lila visit Adrien on daily basis." Alya replied swiftly.

"His father never let Nino in the house. How do you know that and since when?" Nora was getting good at this.

"Lila told me, yesterday." Alya replied quietly.

"That is the same source." Her father stated simply.

"What about Nino? He is Adrien's best bro and he could know about the relationship without telling Marinette." Marlene was getting more brave to join in in this.

"He says Lila lied." Alya spoke barely above a whisper. "He thinks Lila stole the photos he sent me from my phone."

"These photos?" Nora held her phone with a website opened but it was their mother who asked.

Alya browsed the photos.

"These are the photos Nino got from Adrien or I got from Marinette." Alya confirmed. "Nino had more photos on his phone, but he sent me only these few."

"So all these photos have been on your phone. Is there any photo that you have not seen before?" Her father demanded.

"No." Alya waved her head.

"Have you given your phone to anyone?" Nora asked quietly, but there was an undertone in her words that sent shivers down the spines of her parents and her sister.

"Lila took it by mistake yesterday. And she had it in her hands the day before when she visited." Alya whispered.

"And she was sitting in front of your computer?" Her mother asked incredulously.

"Maman, officer Raincomprix is back." Ella said from the door to the room.

"Well you know what you will tell him Alya." Nora replied and walked out from the room, while her parents stayed for the interview.

It was hours later, after she answered all the questions to Sabrina's father, after her parents made a short interview with Nadia Chamack, after she apologized and claimed she never sold those photos, after she talked with Nino and had yet another argument with the boy, after her parents grounded her because Ella and Etta overheard yet another conversation about Lila and blurted out how Lila was babysitting them in place of Alya who went out to the cinema with Nino. It was late in the evening, after the twins were already asleep, or at least stopped causing havoc around the flat, her father was helping her mother in the kitchen, Alya sat at their breakfast table and Nora returned home from another match she won (Nora was considerably inspired for the boxing match by the days events and a face of a certain daughter of an Italian diplomat).

"Alya, what do you know that Lila had not tell you?" Nora asked quietly after she bragged about her match.

"You do not understand, I can't just disregard everything she ever told me. She is Ladybug's best friend. I have published an interview with her on the Ladyblog. More than one actually." Alya protested.

Both their parents left the dishes alone and turned towards their daughter.

"Sometimes you have to accept that you were wrong, dear." Her mother told her gently.

"You should learn from this experience and correct your errors." Her father added quietly.

Both of her parents knew they had to learn from their own errors in their own time. But they had to let their child grow and make errors of her own. They could not impose total control over her and prevent her from making errors. They could only teach her how to accept and correct them and then let her manage the next round herself. The hardest thing was to trust Alya again, therefore they grounded her, because the next day they had to go back to work and leave Alya with the twins again, because their lives had to go on.

Alya said nothing. She was tired and she went to bed, but she was not sleeping. Her mind was overwhelmed with everything. Finally, when the morning arrived, she sat at her desk, she took a notebook and drawn a vertical line over the page. On the left she marked the column 'Lila' and wrote whatever the girl told her about the subject. On the right she wrote whatever she knew from other sources and marked the source. She begged Nora to google a few things for her on her phone while she was home and her sister relented once she saw what Alya was doing.

It was hard. Pages after pages, subject after subject, she started to get a pattern, whatever Lila told her or in fact anybody else was a lie, a fluke or twisted truth at best.

Alya was mad. Alya was angry. Alya was furious. But now she knew what she had to do.

The rest of the class was busy exchanging messages.

They all saw the fight either as a live stream or moments later when the news about the defeat of Hawk Moth spread around the world. Nathaniel was making a comic book about it without stopping for food or sleep to the utter desperation of his grandmother. Kim was bragging how he was faster and stronger than Marinette and Adrien in gym class. Alix watched it together with Jalil. The pink haired girl spent most of the time cheerleading and waving her fists, while her older brother spent most of his time evading her blows.

They watched it again and again, until they memorized each word, until they knew each move, until it was engrained in their memories as if they were there.

But none of them learned about the interview with Lila before they got a message from Nino. The news site was famous for gossip and trivia about anything, but nobody was looking for a piece of serious news there. Besides, why would they be looking for a gossip about Adrien and Marinette, they knew all the juicy parts first hand.

_Nino: Lila stole pictures of Adrien and Marinette they sent to Alya and sold them to the press. The interview is a pile of bullshit._

After that warning, anything that was said in the interview was looked at in totally different light.


	117. Chapter 117 - Nino's Troubles

Nino's troubles

Adrien and Marinette retrieved their phones with a perfect excuse, they had their purpose. They did the online check in for the flight from the train while they ate their lunch. Adrien took the phone and waited for the application to open 24 hours in advance. He and Marinette agreed to do it through his phone and get the seats together. He kept refreshing the web page through the lunch.

"Eager to leave?" Ye asked.

"I just want to be able to chose the seats." Adrien replied. What he really wanted was to sit next to Marinette, just like he did on the way over.

Once the check in was opened, Marinette and Adrien were quick to type in the data for all the passengers. They put everyone in the same seats as on their arrival and smiled.

But then Adrien scrolled through the messages. There were messages from his classmates, mostly to hang on and have a safe trip home and that they kept contact through Nino. Well, he avoided reading messages from both Alya and Nino but he was about to face them. He also got more messages from Chloe, but he was in no mood to call her. Nino on the other hand he wanted to talk to. But first, the messages.

_Nino: Dude, Alya is a mess, please do not read any messages from her._

_Nino: I talked to Alya, she does not accept the truth._

_Nino: This is serious, ignore Alya, you do not need that right now._

_Nino: okay dude, I know I was angry, but please call me when you read this._

Adrien looked to his side, Marinette was just reaching for her own phone. She was probably going to read her messages. And the first message from Nino hit him. He grabbed the girl and pulled her back. She squeaked but sat beside whim with raised brows.

"Could we call Nino again?" Adrien grinned.

"I wanted to check what Alya wrote to me first." Marinette argued, she remembered Alya's phone was taken away but she knew the girl would find a way.

"Nino says you shouldn't do it, now let's call Nino and hear what is wrong, okay?" the boy smiled.

Ling frowned, she and Ye did not get any messages from the girl for a long time.

"Hey Adrien." Nino greeted from the phone and yawned.

"Good morning Nino." Adrien greeted back with a smile.

"Hi Nino." Marinette waved.

"Hi Marinette." Nino smiled back. "How are you."

"Very well considering we just ate a meal we cooked ourselves." Adrien could not help himself but be proud of what he did.

"You cooked?" Nino frowned, his initial concerns put aside for the moment.

"For the whole family." Adrien replied with a huge smile.

"And they ate it?" Nino asked.

"They all did." Adrien smiled.

"They had no choice." Marinette winked.

"I think they liked it." the boy added.

"Good. Great. Great to know you can cook. You can cook for Chris and me when you move in." Nino continued calmly as if he said nothing particularly important.

Marinette squealed.

Adrien laughed.

"I am moving in?" The boy asked excitedly, he was almost bouncing where he was sitting, but there was no space for that, he would hit his head into the ceiling. Marinette kept him from bouncing.

"Well you can move in as soon as some papers are signed by everyone, including your bodyguard." Nino smiled.

"Sou you want me there?" Adrien could not believe his luck. But then he looked at Marinette, he also liked the idea of staying with her parents.

"Of course I do, dude, you are my best bro. Sorry I was a bit angry the last time we spoke, it was just I was thinking if we could have prevented this situation with Alya, but it was not as if we could, dude." Nino smiled sadly.

"Is Chris jealous?" Marinette asked cautiously, she knew the boy.

"Um, we will have to get him with a few of those games of yours, you know?" Nino told Adrien.

"Of course." Adrien replied with a wink.

"How is Alya?" Marinette blurted out the question she wanted to ask first. Well the question should have been expected.

"She ." Nino sighed. "I tried to reason with her."

Adrien nodded. Marinette frowned. So it was not resolved yet, Marinette knew she should have done something, she should have said something, but Alya did not have her phone and Marinette would not call her parents or Nora not to put her friend in more trouble than she already was in.

"What is wrong?" The girl asked quietly and seriously. She was determined to face it whatever it was.

"You have not seen the interview that Lila gave, right?" Nino asked. The boy was certain his two friends would be far more concerned if they did see the interview, they would not start with talking about lunch, for sure.

"No. We have not." Marinette replied swiftly. Adrien simply waved his head. So it was Lila, something neither of them really wanted to face.

"Okay, so Alya refuses to believe that Lila is the one who lied to her. The others from the class understand now that she lied in the interview. But Alya, you should understand, she is too invested in Lila, she published interviews with Lila on her blog." Nino took a breath.

"I warned her." Marinette whispered.

"Yeah, you have, she did not believe you then and she refuses to believe the facts now, Marinette, because then she has to accept that she made her blog a piece of bullshit. Who would believe any information they find there now?" Nino sighed.

"But they still believe the news about the superheroes and the akuma alerts?" Adrien frowned.

"I knew this was going to happen." Marinette waved her head. "But if she removed the interview?"

"There is more than just one interview, because Lila is _Ladybug's best friend_ you know." Nino mocked as he pronounced the words Ladybug's best friend. It was obvious he did not believe those words either.

Marinette groaned. Adrien sighed.

"Can we help her somehow?" Marinette asked exasperatedly.

Nino raised his eyebrows. He knew Marinette was ready to help anybody, but he was still surprised.

"She did help me cheat Nathalie into thinking I was in Paris." Adrien added.

"I … I don't know. Wait, there is someone at the door." Nino was walking towards the entrance to his flat.

"Hi Max, Hi Markov" Nino greeted.

"Max! Markov!" Both teens exclaimed when they heard.

"I have Adrien and Marinette on video call." Nino raised his phone and both teens could see Max with his robot floating next to the boy.

"Hi Nino, Adrien, Marinette." Max exclaimed. "It is so nice to see you. It was clear from the start how Nino knew Lila was lying. And once you know the first thing she said was a lie, you do not believe anything else she said. How are you?" The boy barely waited for an answer. Nino whisper shouted something like 'they did not see it' so the boy quickly switched the subject in the end of his rant.

"That fight you did, I ran some statistics, you had nearly zero chance of winning, did you weaken their powers somehow?" Max was adjusting his glasses and staring at the screen smiling.

"I am really glad to see you both okay. According to my computations from previous battles recorded in Paris, a civilian would not have a chance against a magical villain. But the sample was too small to draw and reliable conclusions." Markov recited.

"It was … their powers were weakened somehow." Marinette stumbled out an explanation. Adrien was not sure how much should they reveal about the magical powers in the temple.

"I am here because … I was at the police early this morning. Lila cheated Markov and me to break the code for a web page she visited. After that interview, we checked it. We decided to report on that. Officer Roger Raincomprix now knows what is there. It is about Hawk Moth." Max said in one breath.

"There was one in two hundred billion chance for that." Markov added.

"There was one in one chance for that with Lila." Adrien whispered through gritted teeth.

"And I have built a software that allowed me to fact check everything that Lila said and I can report that eighty nine percent of everything she said was not true." Markov reported.

"And the rest was misinterpreted and twisted truth." Marinette groaned.

"Actually, Markov would report that as a lie too." Max looked proud of himself. "I am sorry we did not think of that sooner." Max looked down. "So we came here to you Nino because Alya still does not have her phone and she might want to use this software to check what she published?"

"I wish she did." Nino looked down.

They entered Nino's room, Chris was sitting at the computer.

"Playing games on my computer again Chris?" Nino scolded.

"Actually, I am talking to your girlfriend." Chris raised his nose.

"What?" Nino exclaimed and ran over to his desk.

Alya was on the screen, pale and with huge bags under here eyes.

"Nora let me use her computer for this. I removed the interviews and published an apology last night." Alya said flatly.

"That is great news Alya." Nino smiled. "I am glad you reconsidered your choices." Nino was intentionally vague as he knew Adrien and Marinette were listening. He wanted to spare them.

"I … my parents made me do it, and Nora, you know how she can be .. persuasive." Alya continued. "I had to use their computer, mine is still with the police."

Marinette and Adrien deflated, so it was not because she believed Lila was a liar.

"Then they made me think and … I was wrong, Lila lied and cheated on me. I realize that now. I realized that late last night." She was obviously very tired. "I did not sleep much last night." She added. "My phone is still with the police. I can't remove the emails I sent to Marinette and Adrien, they probably hate me now."

"I have Adrien and Marinette here on the video call." Nino raised his phone so she would see it better.

"We do not hate you Alya." Both teens shouted in unison. They had no idea what she wrote, but was under Lila influence, so they decided to forgive.

"They have not read what you wrote." Nino said calmly. He did not know what it was, but he had an idea.

"Please, please, just remove the emails, please do not open them, okay?" Alya begged. "I sent emails from the twins tablet because my phone and computer are taken."

"Okay." Marinette replied calmly.

"We will." Adrien confirmed cheerfully.

"In fact, Markov and me have something that could help you." Max cut in and Nino stepped to the side while Max elaborated on the software and how to use it.

"Are you sure she needs this right now?" Marinette asked incredulously. Adrien hugged her closer. Trust Marinette that she would worry about the person who actually hurt her. Adrien was concerned for Alya too but did not have the time to voice it.

"Hey Max, Alya looks really tired right now, perhaps you could … " Nino started to intervene but was cut off by his girlfriend from the screen.

"That is exactly what I need, I wanted to remove the whole blog." Alya cried.

"Okay then, I will leave the three of you to your business." Nino went to the kitchen.

"So the news here are that police wants something from Italian embassy." Nino winked.

He could see smiling faces and hear cheers.

"How are you? When are you returning back? Are you returning back?" Nino inquired.

"We are on the train. We just did online check in." Adrien stated proudly. "We fly back tomorrow."

"Tomorrow, dude?" Nino exclaimed.

"Yes" Adrien exclaimed.

"Wow." Nino replied.

"And I plan to go to school on Monday." The boy added.

"Gosh, there is school on Monday, but that is in two days. Where are my books?" Nino shouted.

Marinette and Adrien laughed.

"Mine are in the locker in school." Adrien laughed. "you can borrow mine if you do not find them."

"Mine are probably mostly there. I do not know. I have to find my school bag." Nino replied.

"You have two more days." Marinette noted.

"Yeah I do." Nino replied.

"My school books should be in my locker too." Marinette shrugged. "It seems so long ago I do not even remember."

"Anything new with you?" Nino asked with a smile. "You learned how to cook, anything else?"

Both teens blushed.

"Tom offered to adopt me." Adrien grinned as he remembered the conversation from that morning.

"Maman thought I was smuggling some drugs but uncle Wang confirmed it was just a kind of tea." Marinette added.

"I actually proposed." Adrien whispered in mock confidence. "That her great uncle was such a great chef because he used in his soup." The boy teased.

"But he does not." Marinette raised her nose. "He is just an excellent chef." She added. "And he has a lousy sense of humour because he liked that joke that sleep deprived Adrien made of the soup last night."

"It was closer to this morning I think." Adrien pretended to ponder.

"Fortunately he persuaded maman to make that tea, or we would not have slept for the rest of the night." Marinette added.

"Yeah, I would hate to keep everyone awake with my screaming in my sleep." Adrien was down.

"You scream in your sleep?" Nino asked. "You should have told me before, dude. How am I going to sleep?"

"Um, I had a nightmare. And I kept poor Tom and Sabine, everyone, awake." Adrien sighed.

"I had nightmares too, they were awake because of me too." Marinette did not want the boy to feel guilty.

Nino smiled.

"It is so nice to see you two together." The boy said quietly without thinking.

They both blushed again.

Adrien was restless, he wanted to tell Nino they kissed, he even wanted to tell his best friend how he felt about Marinette and everything, but he could not put it into words and there were too many people around so he simply turned around towards the girl and gave her a peck on the cheek.

Marinette squeaked and blushed. Adrien smirked and looked back at Nino. The boy hoped his best friend took the message and the smile he got beck from the screen told him that he did. Marinette, on the other hand collected herself, took a deep breath, turned her head and gave Adrien a peck on the cheek.

"Oh boy." Nino exclaimed form the phone. Adrien blushed and Marinette turned back to the phone proudly.

"Yeah." Adrien smiled.

"Nino, you should go back to your room and check on Alya," Marinette spoke quietly.

"Yes, I should … leave you two. Bye." Nino greeted and cut the call. He was happy for his friends, but he had a problem to attend to. And it was a kind of a problem that he could not solve it by making a playlist. Fortunately he had a little help from his friends. He had Max. And Markov.


	118. Chapter 118 - Immunity

119 Immunity

Lila walked away from the park with a smug expression on her face. The reporter she just talked to had confused expression on his face as the poor young aspiring journalist was still wondering what had just happened. This girl with sly smile and ready to shed fake tears was fluttering her eyelashes so frequently that a normal person would have obtained serious headache. The young man verified on the phone that his boss had all the material and that live stream was finished before numbly walking away in the opposite direction from the girl. It was not the shortest way for him, but he just wanted to get as far away as possible from that girl.

Lila swiftly found and opened the link to the video recording of her interview. She shared it on her social network profile, she opened a profile on several other social networks just to be able to post the link there. She was not Lila Rossi if she was not advertising herself. Then she decided to share the link with all the contacts in her phone, she had assembled the message and added the link but then she realized it was probably not the smartest idea to share it with literally everyone. She had to remove her mother from the list of recipients, yes, and Adrien and Marinette, although she would love to brag to the girl. It took her some time before she finally sent it.

The brown haired girl with olive green eyes walked the short distance to the building where she lived. She passed more than a few people, but none of them noticed her, let alone recognized her. All of them were walking and minded their own business, few were talking on the phone, others chatted with the person they walked with. She expected to overhear all sorts of insults towards her arch nemesis Marinette Dupain Cheng. She expected nasty comments about the girl, her betrayal, her evil. She expected to overhear praise for herself, a brave girl who stood up to a bully and a collaborator with Hawk Moth.

It was mere minutes after her interview, but it was a livestream. She expected people watched that. She expected people would be replaying that interview. The live stream of the final battle with Hawk Moth was seen live and watched and re-watched in the following hour gaining millions of views. And it was transferred through Alya's blog, not even a proper news agency site. She gave an interview to a journalist, an adult and a news site with a name and a company and a bank account. She expected her video was about to get the same success. At least that much.

She was already at the entrance to her building, and yet, nobody recognized her. Nobody told her how she was brave and how that other girl was nasty. Nobody adored her. Nobody stopped her. Nobody talked to her. Nobody noticed her.

She decided to walk a little longer around her block. And she was walking slowly, making sure everyone sees her face, they should be able to recognize her by now. The streets were crowded with people who strolled and chatted or walked swiftly while discussing something on their phones. She would deliberately step in front of a person just to get their attention, and yet the person would simply step aside and continue their own business. Then she simply walked and paid attention to what the people were talking about.

"I am telling you, those monks must have trained them in some martial arts and some special kind of yoga to be able to suffer so much pain and hurt and still fight." One voice said.

"I am so worried about those poor kids and those monks, they got hurt so badly, who knows if those Chinese doctors even know how to treat them." An elderly woman whined.

"Ladybug cure fixed everything, I am sure they are not injured dear." A man's voice replied calmly.

"Everyone is admiring Adrien for standing up to his father, papa. Why should I listen to you?" A boy yelled to his phone.

"The girl and the boy, they obviously love each other, it is so romantic." One girl gushed.

"I do not see anything romantic in getting beaten up by a boy's father and his assistant." Another girl retorted in a sarcastic tone.

"Of course you are jealous because Adrien Agreste looked at her like that." The first girl teased.

"That was not jealousy. I would not accept to be beaten up like that only to be with him. He is not that good looking." The second girl replied.

Lila heard enough. She would have to practice patience. All those fools will swiftly change their minds once they saw her interview. It was just a matter of time. Minutes maybe. Any moment now. And yet, each conversation she overheard was about the battle, about Adrien and Marinette, about the two monks and about the two Chinese students who were there. Lila had enough. She went back home.

Lila watched her own interview over and over again with a smug expression on her face, she admired how the number of views increased rapidly, she was enjoying her own popularity. (The number was raising above one thousand not one million). It took some time before she finally went to open the comments section. And those were numerous, she did not bother to read them because there were messages and emails to attend to.

There were other questions and requests to meet that she interpreted to herself as invitations to new interviews. Oh how she enjoyed her own popularity. She was quick to accept all invitations and waited to arrange the time and the place. Should she organize a press conference? She imagined herself as she stood on a stage surrounded by microphones and cameras. She would be the centre of attention, all the TV stations would be showing her live on TV, and she would choose the questions, smile shyly, flutter her eyelashes, whine and cry about Marinette and blame the other girl for the injustice. This was excellent payback.

She returned to watching her own interview and noticed how the number of views increased even further. She was about to bath in her own popularity. Adrien was to consider himself lucky if she would give him a time of her day. And Marinette? She was going to make Marinette suffer so much that the girl was going to admit to anything Lila could possibly invent and even add to it just to end her own suffering.

Her mother arrived home at some undefined hour and Lila was summoned to eat dinner with her. It was a chore to be away from her phone (because her mother insisted on no phone during meals policy) and her computer. What if someone famous was looking for her and wanted to talk to her. What if the invitation to speak at the national TV arrived while she was having dinner with her mother. She did not receive a single reply from her classmates yet and she was forced to be away from her phone.

After dinner, her mother insisted on a family evening, no computer, no phone, again, and Benigna tried to have a conversation with her daughter. Lila finally got the attention of her mother that she craved for during the long hours she waited for her mother to return from work. But now she did not want it, she wanted totally different kind of attention, she wanted to be admired and adored and put on a pedestal. Her mother gently criticized her in the very diplomatic way she was trained to do. Lila did not want to bring up the interview just yet, she was preparing her mother to see it.

A very familiar police officer was holding a piece of paper. It was very important piece of paper. Officer Roger Raincomprix felt very important because he had that piece of paper in his hands.

That morning, that Max kid, a classmate of his daughter Sabrina, walked into the police station with a tiny robot that floated next to the boy's head. Several officers hid and called for backup ready to attack the kid and his robot. It was understandable, in the city that got so used to the akuma attacks, his colleagues simply thought that was another magical villain. But officer Roger knew better. His daughter Sabrina told him all about Max and his tiny robot friend Markov. So he knew whom he was facing. He bravely approached the short bespectacled kid and his robot.

"Hi Max, Hi Markov, how can I help you?" The officer asked while he towered over them. It was his duty to serve and protect the public, and these two were also members of the public, or perhaps it was only Max, he was not so sure about Markov.

"We believe that we have accidentally stumbled upon information related to Hawk Moth and Gabriel Agreste and we would like to report on that." Max stated simply while he adjusted his glasses.

The boy gave a statement how his classmate Lila Rossi asked for a favour. He had shared the link with the police officer and the police man's eyes became like saucers. There was a lot of proof and a lot of incriminating evidence, and, most importantly, a clue how to enter the villains lair in the Agreste mansion.

Markov insisted to give a statement too. Officer Roger Raincomprix had witnessed his share of odd things so he simply added taking a statement from a tiny floating and talking robot to the pile of odd things he did in his career.

That was how his day had started. Now he stood in front of a building that housed several employees of the Italian embassy. He had a search warrant. He needed to collect hardware and statements. But he also knew about things such as diplomatic immunity. Therefore, the sheet of paper had few more stamps and signatures than he would usually need. It was an important piece of paper. He stood taller while he held it in his hands.

Lila, on the other hand, pretended there was nobody home. Her mother was in the embassy offices or busy somewhere else. She did not even care where she was, as long as she was not at home to answer the door.

Officer Roger Raincomprix had to search for Lila (and her mother) through the official administrative channels. Finally, defeated by the administration, he requested the embassy cooperation through the official channels. They were friendly, they promised to cooperate, they did not want to be labelled as an embassy who cooperated with Hawk Moth. Benigna Rossi resisted to hand over the phone and the computer that belonged to her daughter. The embassy officials searched her daughter's room and took it away as soon as there was an official request from the French authorities.

"But mama, it is that girl, Marinette, she stole Adrien from me." The girl shed fake tears even in front of her mother. "It was her who worked with Hawk Moth, it was her, not me. She framed me." Lila whined and cried while her mother took away the laptop and the phone into her own room and locked it up in a drawer.

"Why would police need your computer and phone, Lila? This is the last time I ask." Benigna insisted. The woman was desperate to see anything good in her daughter. She got fake tears and accusations of the girl who was known for fighting Hawk Moth. And a police request to hand over her daughter's belongings.

"You can't give them my phone, my tablet and my computer mama, we are diplomatic staff, we have diplomatic immunity." The girl whined.

Benigna Rossi sighed.

"I am merely a secretary, Lila. I am important in the embassy. It is my job to ensure all the procedures in the embassy work properly. I have to organize everything. But diplomatic immunity does not work that way, it can be renounced at any moment." Her mother explained patiently.

"But you said that diplomatic immunity means we can't be prosecuted for anything we say." Lila screamed at her mother.

"That does not give you a free pass to commit acts of crime, Lila." Benigna was fighting a loosing battle with her job on the line on one side and her daughter on the other. She slowly realized she might as well kiss her career goodbye.

It was one phone call, from none other that Chloe Bourgeois herself.

"Do you want this to reach the papers? Imagine a title 'Italian embassy is a known collaborator with Hawk Moth and Mayura'" The heiress stated bluntly.

That was all that was needed. The two supervillains were considered terrorists, and the whole situation could easily be interpreted as if it was the Italian embassy who supported Hawk Moth and Mayura. That was an equivalent to an act of war. Wars have been started for less during the course of history, heck even wars between Italy and France (or at least different Italian provinces and French departments).

"We have proof that your daughter had inside information about Hawk Moth from Gabriel Agreste himself." Officer Roger Raincomprix stated at one moment. "We know she used her phone, tablet and computer to contact him."

"You used embassy property for that, do you understand what you did?" Benigna was angry with her daughter, but even more, she was angry with herself. Because it was her who let her do that. Lila was offering excuse after an excuse, but nobody listened.

In the end, Benigna was given a choice, give the requested information straight to the French authorities or to the Italian authorities first (who would definitely hand it over to the French because EU exists).

Lila sulked, grounded, no phone, no computer and TV restricted. She was not interested in TV, you could not watch it for five minutes without somebody dropping a reference to the final battle.

Benigna Rossi managed to keep her position, but she knew she could only dream of a promotion. Even her husband got scolded for the way their daughter behaved. That was followed with a very Italian phone conversation between her and Lila's father, it was long, it was loud, and the muscles in their arms hurt from how much their waved their arms. They continued with the phones attached to the chargers once they got empty, they talked long into the night and even once the sky was lit up by the sun of the next day.

Finally, the woman requested for transfer. There was an open spot in Geneva that she could get, it was some UN agency, but it was much closer to her husband. She applied for the position instantly. She knew it was a long procedure and it would take a few months before they had to move, but she started to look for a school for her daughter. She picked one and sent the application data. Her daughter was refused. Apparently they did background check, her daughter gave several interviews and they did not particularly like what they saw there. The school estimated her daughter would not fit in well in their school and recommended her to look further.

She sent applications to all the schools in vicinity, even a few private schools she could hardly afford or not al all. She got her answers, all of them were _no_. Several of them recommended an alternative. It was a school that also treated psychological disorders in teenagers.


	119. Chapter 119 - The Long Ride (Home)

The long ride (home)

The (extended) family finished their (substantially improvised) lunch on the train in good mood. After lunch, everyone lied down to take a nap. Adrien and Marinette just finished the talk with Nino and were going through the messages they got from their classmates. 'Be brave.' and 'Can't believe I fell for that bitch.' as well as 'Sorry for not trusting you.' were rather common. Adrien got a lot of messages of support from Vincent and the crew that worked with him on the photo shoot.

Adrien was typing a really long response to Chloe. She did not understand why he did not demand a helicopter and a private jet, he could have been in Paris few days ago (according to her) the same time she flew back from New York. And there was a demand (because Chloe did not ask) for clarification about the photos and Nino and Lila and everything. He already warned her not to trust Lila, but Chloe wanted it all over again, because of the interview.

Marinette just sent a message to her classmates that she did not see the interview and had no intention to do so because she did not want to acknowledge the liar. She noticed there were messages from Nadia Chamack, the last one was a question when was she coming back. Marinette assumed she needed a babysitter for Manon. Then there was a list of almost identical messages from both Penny Rolling and Jagged Stone, she assumed Jagged wanted her to design something, she replied she was doing great and when she planned to return.

"Perhaps you should watch the video." Alix replied in a message instantly. "But beware, it is full of really nasty lies." Marinette sighed, there was no escape from that, she read enough reactions, her parents were hiding it from her, she knew.

"I think we have to watch that video." Both teens said in unison and broke the silence. Adrien clicked on the link Chloe sent him. They watched the video while the rest of the group was sleeping.

It was hard to digest. Adrien understood the questions he got from his legal representative much better. That woman was a genus, she cleared everything up by asking for so little. He knew it was a lie, he knew his legal representative knew it was a lie and did necessary precautions. The boy was so used to different pieces of 'news' ignored or handled by the public relations people. That was always someone else's problem.

Marinette, on the other hand, was not well. Her brows furrowed, her expression dark, her fists clenched so hard her knuckles went white. Adrien was used to gossip, rumours and public relations dealing with anything that tabloids would post, Marinette had very little experience, only as Ladybug, and it hardly required any kind of response.

Tikki sat on Marinette's shoulder as the video played. The tiny red goddess of creation was considering creating a specific genetically adapted virus for the girl. They created those person specific medical treatments to cure humans, there was surely a way to make specific illness that would target a specific person, right? But she was a goddess, she was better than that, so she patted the face of her chosen in the hope to comfort her.

Plagg muttered something about cataclysm and living beings and Adrien patted his head.

"She is lying. Everyone knows she is lying." Adrien whispered to her gently as he held her closer.

"Alya believed her, apparently." Tikki gritted through her teeth.

"Humans are blind and stupid, I am telling you, kid." Plagg muttered again.

"No, Adrien. She is too good at this. I think many people believed her." Marinette squeezed out through the tears of anger that streaked down her face.

"That site is not a real news site, it is just gossip and clickbait, just look at the other titles advertised here." Adrien pointed. "Your real father is an alien and so was my mother?"

Marinette started to laugh at that, a bit too loudly. She sounded hysterical as she switched so quickly between anger, crying and laughter.

"I have to give her credit, this sounded more believable than most of the tall tales she said at school." The girl waved her head. "The way she twisted the truth, you are practically forced to admit what she said is true or you are collaborating with Hawk Moth."

"I thought I told your mother to take away your phones so you would not see that." Tom said. They saw him standing up and looking up at them where they were, cuddled together on the top bunk bed, the one that was used by Marinette.

"Um, we did the online check in." The girl replied quickly.

"And we chatted with Nino a bit." Adrien smiled.

"You shouldn't have watched that. You did not deserve that." Tom spoke calmly but it was clear there was anger hidden behind his words. Anger not aimed at them.

"We can't protect them from that for ever, they would have seen it once we got to Paris anyway." Sabine spoke sleepily from her bed.

Tom returned to his bed while the two kids kept themselves busy with checking the messages. Marinette finally replied to everyone who asked her when she was returning home.

That evening Sabine and Tom encouraged Marinette and Adrien to make the dinner again. The adults wanted to discuss the request from Nadia Chamack for an interview with the two kids. They both feared the invasion of privacy, but they both also knew there were too many rumours started. Adrien's bodyguard was not much help, his legal representative decided to wait for their return. Nadia was impatient, but ready to wait.

The two kids were concerned about something completely different while they were waiting for the cooking appliances to become available again..

"You know that Ladybug and Chat Noir did not make an appearance in Paris since we left?" Marinette whispered. She had no time to worry about that until then, but she was back to her worries about hiding their identities.

"Well, there were sightings reported, you know?" Adrien winked. He was glad that Alya did not fact check everything before she posted it and she loved to theorise and make speculations, especially when she was bored and had no real news to publish.

"Someone might make a connection and reveal our identities." Marinette worried. The noise from the train and the kitchen appliances masked their conversation for anyone else, but Plagg and Tikki remained silent and hidden until the two kids were alone.

"If they do, does that mean we have to stop being Ladybug and Chat Noir?" Adrien whispered to her ear.

"We are guardians now." Marinette whispered. "It is worse. I guess we have to renounce our memories too."

Adrien gulped. That meant he would have to forget Marinette? That was a disaster. Suddenly he was really worried.

"But who will be the guardian then?" Adrien asked the first logical question that popped up on his mind.

"I don't have a clue." Marinette admitted.

The kitchen was free and they started with the procedure.

"I say people are stupid and blind and nobody will realize it was you." Plagg said the moment he floated out from Adrien's pocket.

"There is only so much we can do to hide their identities with magic and you know it Plagg." Tikki chirped as she floated out from Marinettes shoulder bag.

"Just give them some Camembert and they will forget." Plagg retorted.

That made both kids giggle.

"That would leave less Camembert for you, Plagg." Marinette teased between her laughs.

"That reminds me, kid, what about my dinner?" Plagg demanded and Adrien produced a piece of cheese. It was not Camembert.

"I wondered when will you ask for it." Adrien replied as he gave the tiny black god of destruction a piece of cheese.

"You made me wait for it? You made me ask?" Plagg complained but swallowed the cheese in one bite.

Adrien laughed.

"It is not even Camembert. Oh I feel so homesick." Plagg whined.

"That temple is supposed to be your home." Adrien teased.

Marinette gave a cookie to Tikki with much less fuss.

"What if Markov made Alya remove all those reports of people who claimed they saw us and posted photos of us on her blog?" Marinette whispered.

"That is certainly possible if his software is working correctly." Adrien confirmed her doubts.

"The only way to prove you are there is to actually appear there, Marinette." Tikki chirped.

"People are stupid, but that little robot guy is clever, just like us Sugarcube." Plagg said.

"Do you think we should make an appearance before we return?" Marinette whispered to Adrien while they stirred the food.

"You mean?" Adrien grinned. Marinette smiled back.

"Should we talk to Kaalki and Fluff?" The boy whispered. Marinette nodded.

Then they heard someone coughed behind them and they both jumped apart while their kwami phased into their clothes.

"What is cooking in here?" Ling teased with Ye by her side.

"We came here to take whatever is finished to feed the hungry." Ye spoke while he purportedly stared to the side.

"Um, we have finished these, on this side." Adrien motioned towards several bowls. At that moment the microwave pinged.

"And here is one more." Marinette grinned.

"So what is the speciality on the menu this evening?" Ye asked as he picked up the bowls.

"What would the chef recommend?" Ling reached for the microwave.

"Noodles with sweet and sour topping." Adrien read from one of the bags.

Marinette laughed and her cousins were already leaving when Ling made a step back.

"Whatever you do, don't get caught." She teased and disappeared.

"So Kaalki and Fluff?" Marinette continued their previous conversation.

"Fluff is the last resort Marinette." Tikki warned.

"Are you sure you want to wield another miraculous again?" Plagg asked his chosen with a serious expression on his face.

"You should not mess with time." Tikki repeated the advice Marinette was given several times already.

"Navigating teleportation is serious issue." Marinette whispered. "Even Max got us to hang from the Big Ben."

"We could go there, but we would have to hit a moving train on the way back." Adrien pondered.

"You do not have the greatest record from wielding other miraculous kid." Plagg warned.

"We should just talk to them, no transforming, no teleportation, no time travel." Marinette resolved the argument just in time.

Adrien was relieved but still worried. When Ling and Ye returned for more food, the kids were not sure which noodles were boiled and which were not, everything got mixed up. Fortunately, the two older teens decided the two young teens were messed up because they were in love and did not suspect anything else.

"How do you chose the wielders?" Adrien asked quietly.

"I chose … well I did make a few errors, but I chose those people that I thought I could trust and I thought would be compatible with the powers that their kwami would give them." The girl spoke quickly and quietly.

"Do you think we might use Ye to wield the Horse miraculous?" The boy whispered his idea. "He is good in science."

"No, we would have to separate him from the group while not transformed then he would have to see us transformed on the train and create a portal and … it would certainly reveal our identities to him." Marinette whispered. "Besides, he has no experience, he might make errors too."

"Did master Fu chose us because he saw us in the temple?" Adrien whispered. That was one of the things that bothered him, another was if Master Fu chose him because he was the son of Hawk Moth but the boy was not ready to say that thought out loud.

"Probably." Marinette replied after she considered the question. "It certainly helped. He had no Book of Lore to guide him during all those years. He did not complete his training, he had no book to guide him, only the kwami, with two of the jewels and the kwami missing."

"Um, yes we still have to get that back." Adrien rubbed the back of his neck.

"Yeah." Marinette whispered as she looked down to the bowl before her. She concentrated on preparing the food. She did not want to remind Adrien (nor herself for that matter but her thoughts already wondered away in that direction) about his mother nor Felix nor the rings nor … whatever they would find once they went in that direction.

Later that evening the kids took the watch and the glasses and sneaked away into the same small storage they used on the way to Lhasa. Kaalki observed the boy warily and advised against teleportation onto a moving train if it was not absolutely necessary. Fluff on the other hand stated 'everything is resolved, whenever'.

"We can't really make a video call from here." Adrien looked around the small storage room. "There is no blank nondescript background." The shelves and walls were full of signs that would have given them away. Finally Marinette got an idea and took out her phone.

"We can assemble a message and send it." The girl started to type. "_Citizens of Paris, we are currently resting after fighting akuma for years. You are neither abandoned nor forgotten. Please take care of yourselves. Yours Ladybug and Chat Noir._" Adrien insisted to change forgotten into furgotten and transformed.

"I am sending this from my baton." Chat Noir winked as he copied the message and sent it away to news agencies. Then he quickly detransformed.

"What am I? A phone booth now?" Plagg groaned. "I am so hungry, I did not have a proper piece of Camembert for weeks." Adrien produced a piece of cheese and fed the hungry glutton.

After that the four kwami chatted and floated around the small storage space. The two kids had different things on their mind. They were finally alone (save the kwami), away from parental supervision. Adrien took her hand. Marinette squeezed it back. They entwined their fingers and stared at the general direction of each other as they could not see well in the darkness.

"I was thinking about us, My Lady." Adrien whispered.

"Um, me too." Marinette muttered back. She felt his breath on her face.

"Really, what were you thinking?" The boy smiled in the dark.

"You first." She replied quickly.

"Well since we are already married." He teased. He needed it to be brave to do it to finally ask what was on his mind.

Marinette groaned. But she was grateful for the darkness because her cheeks were burning.

"Perhaps we could you know I mean we could ..." Adrien was suddenly surprised by his own lack of eloquence.

"Would you be my boyfriend?" Marinette blurted out.

"go on a date? I was about to ask you to go on a date. But yes! Yes! I want to be your boyfriend, Marinette. If you would be my girlfriend, that is." Adrien was beyond happy. He was giddy and almost bounced on his feet.

The girl was holding onto him because her legs were becoming less stable with each moment.

"I love you Marinette." He whispered.

"I love you too." She replied and after a few misses they found each others lips in the darkness.


	120. Chapter 120 - Possessions

Possessions

Nathalie stared at the woman in the blue suit. The woman was assigned to represent her by the embassy, she was not an employee of the Gabriel Agreste Fashion industry. She did not have a lawyer? Or rather, she had a lawyer, but it was this person assigned to her, not some high profile lawyer with a trail of success in high profile cases and an attitude of a great white shark. She explained to the woman that she lost her memory and she was trying to recover them by reading the information stored on her tablet and in her diary. The lawyer expressed concern for her health and offered medical assistance but Nathalie refused. She offered a psychologist but Nathalie refused that too. She had read her diary and she could not understand herself without doubting some kind of coercion took place, she did not want to be a victim. Besides, the evidence that she was a villain was rather overwhelming.

"Look, if you do not want any medical assistance it is time to face the music." The lawyer had a weak smile. It was more to encourage herself than her client. She was representing Mayura after all.

Then she was explained her legal status in China. There was no permanent damage, save the lost time, and no injuries, save the emotional hurt. But Nathalie had disrupted the governmental operation and that was a serious crime. On the other hand, the magical nature of her crimes were rather difficult to treat legally so there was a chance that she would be released to be prosecuted by France.

The lawyer was brief and to the point. She would not be released, she would be extradited, at best, to face the accusations in France. Hawk Moth was her boss, it was easy to suggest she was somehow coerced to do it. But Nathalie was unwilling to do that. Then the lawyer showed her a photo of a fight in the temple and explained that she was probably akumatized and under Hawk Moth's control during the attack which meant she was free from any responsibility.

Nathalie listened to all that while she stared at the photo on her tablet. It was a photo of Emilie in the sarcophagus. She could not believe what she was hearing. She was in prison, she was prosecuted, she was considered a criminal by two countries, because she stupidly assisted her boss to revive his wife. Because, apparently, she was in love with him. She was so in love with him that she assisted him in his madness. Only for him to get his wife back, she would never get him for herself.

Was she really so stupid to do all that because of some ridiculous crush on her boss? What did she expect to gain? Why was she doing that? She was selfless, she often sacrificed her time and effort to help Gabriel and her colleagues. But this was ridiculous. This was selfless on an entirely different level. She always did things to make Gabriel happy, if only she could see a twitch of his lips. He had his restrained way of showing affection, some days it was limited to the absence of his abusive attitude. But she appreciated it.

"However, we could turn this into your favour. Since Gabriel Agreste is your boss and is now known to be a criminal who controlled other people's minds, we could form your defence as if he made you help him. Did he make you do it?" The lawyer insisted.

Nathalie stared back at the screen.

"I do not remember." She whispered. It was the best she could answer. She had no notes that she received threats from him. From her point of view, her help was her own doing. She did not want to lie just to save herself and throw Gabriel to the sharks to fend for himself alone. That still seemed wrong to her.

"Oh yes of course." The lawyer bit her lower lip as she examined her notes where she developed the defence further.

"But I know why he did what he did." Nathalie added after a long silence. "It was to bring back his wife." She turned the screen towards the lawyer. The woman took the tablet and looked at the screen. Nathalie explained to the lawyer what she was looking at. She told her everything as much as she understood from her diary. She wanted out of it, she wanted to be free, from jail and from Gabriel, in whatever order and priority.

"I do not know how I got myself into this." Nathalie whispered in the end. And that was the truth.

"I can only get you as far as France." The lawyer told her. "But you should get yourself a defence lawyer to represent you there."

Nathalie sighed and looked back at the screen. She said goodbye to her lawyer and returned to her bed. She flipped back to the photo of her as Mayura. She looked good. She wondered how it felt to be transformed to have magical powers and be stronger than anyone else. She searched for videos of battles where she was tagged. She admired her own moves, she looked good in that dress, she liked it. But then she stumbled upon the video of the final battle. She looked good, but she was fighting mere civilians, she attacked a girl, a student and few monks. She stopped the video as her own actions made her feel sick. She did not pay too much attention to the spoken words, the sound was of poor quality and she did not want to increase the volume.

Finally, she called for Duusu and searched for the brooch, but she found nothing. Then she remembered a note from her diary that Gabriel took the brooch from her several times, that lead her to a conclusion that it was not permanently hers.

Then she forced herself to watch the video until the end. That girl took her brooch. She read the piece of news attached to the video. Her name was Marinette Dupain Cheng. But then she noticed the name of the boy. The boy who stripped the pin from Hawk Moth was Adrien Agreste. Gabriel fought his own son.

At that moment she knew what she wanted to do. She was going to walk away from this. No, she was going to run away from this by any means possible.

Gabriel stared at the photo of Emilie in the sarcophagus. She was his inspiration, she was his muse, she looked so perfect in that suit, he must have designed it for her. Her hair was arranged perfectly. She looked older than he remembered her. But he also noted she still had that million dollar look, even while she was laid in a glass sarcophagus with no visible signs of life in her. And those flowers, she really looked as if she was in an open casket. His mind was suddenly filled with questions of why and how and so on.

Then he studied the text, it was about preserving her body and how to bring her back. He had to get the two miraculous, a ring and a pair of earrings, from Chat Noir and Ladybug, and then he had to make a wish. And Emilie would be alive again.

Was that why he was chasing after the two miraculous? Did he want make a wish and bring Emilie back? Apparently he did, he just wanted his wife back? The information that he could get two miraculous from Ladybug and Chat Noir and make a wish that would alter reality way very useful information from his point of view. He wondered if he could make more than one wish. Those would definitely be handy to get him out of this mess. Perhaps he should consult the notes and continue where he left off.

He read his notes on each akuma fight. The strengths, the weaknesses, the way he chose each akuma and how he sometimes akumatized any random person who had sufficiently negative emotions. Few akumas were carefully planned and initiated by carefully orchestrated events. Most of them were desperate random attempts. There were many notes on how Nathalie helped him, she was akumatized into Catalyst. She wielded the peacock miraculous and became Mayura. And her health deteriorated but she persisted.

Oh, Nathalie, dear Nathalie, my faithful Nathalie who always went above and beyond to help me. He smiled at the photo of Mayura. She suffered and sacrificed her health to help him. He had to admire her devotion. She was definitely the person he wanted on his side. Besides, she knew what he was doing and remained by his side.

Finally he searched for video's of the akuma battles, particularly those that he estimated were carefully planned. He cringed at the sight of his own creations. He was not very proud of how they looked, where was that elegance he was famous for? Well he was a villain and hid his identity, perhaps the absence of elegance and few ridiculous akumas here and there were a way to disguise his identity. He searched for a video where he akumatized himself. It was from the security cameras in his own mansion, but he did not see much of the fight, apparently it took place in some blind corner of the mansion or even outside.

He had time so he searched the internet for more videos of the fights. The most viewed one was marked as the 'final battle, Hawk Moth defeated' so he quickly opened the link.

He fought with a boy. The boy called him father. But that boy was a disgrace. He was wearing a silly childish piece of clothing, it was wide, it was fluffy black material. His hair was a mess and he was dirty. The boy showed excellent fighting skills, bravery and persistence. He had to give him credit for that. But he resented the style, that wild and unbounded look, no guard, no restraint, the boy showed all his feelings on his face.

Why did the boy fight him if he was about to bring his mother back? That made no sense to the man. Perhaps the boy wanted something else and not his mother? Teenage boys can be so demanding. He knew a few colleagues and associates with financial means who managed to raise spoiled brats. He remembered how he swore to himself how he would never allow for something like that to happen to him. His child would never be a spoiled brat, he would suppress any free will an mould the child according to his will. Yes, that was what he would do.

He looked at the video and concluded he obviously failed. Because the boy fought him. The boy fought him and took the ping off from his torso and that was when he detransformed and the world learned that Hawk Moth was in fact Gabriel Agreste.

It was his own son who took his pin? What was the boy going to do with it. That was his property, Gabriel's property, and the boy took it away from him, there was a video evidence for the theft. He knew what he had to do. He had to get his property back. His lawyer was going to see to that. And he had the next meeting with his lawyer in the morning.

"You want me to do what, again?" The lawyer adjusted the glasses and stared at Gabriel.

Gabriel hated people with nervous ticks. This man was obviously adjusting glasses because he did not want to take up the assignment.

"I want you to retrieve the pin that was stolen from me." Gabriel pointed his index finger towards the tablet. The screen showed frozen scene from the video of the fight, the moment when Adrien ripped the pin off from his magical suit. "If he is no longer my son, if my parental rights are taken from me then I want my property back."

The lawyer blinked at his client and tried to remember how to breathe. The ability to form coherent words was temporarily gone. He came prepared. He prepared the case for extradition request, he prepared the defence for the crimes committed in China. He planned to offer a deal and buy his client out, the charges were disruption of a governmental operation, but the only damage that could be proven was a loss of time, if he offered substantial financial compensation for that, there was a chance of them reaching a deal. France was a different problem, but he was about to deal with that once they get there.

He faced an entirely different demand.

"Sir you are in no position to demand anything like that." The lawyer replied rather bluntly. He struggled to keep his calm and composed manners.

"I am in a position to demand anything I want from you. How much do I pay you?" Gabriel snarled back.

The lawyer took a step back.

"And get the brooch back to Nathalie from that girl while you are at it." Gabriel added with a resentful tone. She was useful so far, he wanted to keep her by his side in his further endeavours.

"I will place a request with the authorities." The lawyer replied flatly and made a note. If his client demanded that, he was about to do just that. That was a matter of filling out a few forms. "I can't guarantee you will get them back any time soon." He added just for a good measure.

"I am sure that I am not known as a patient man." Gabriel replied as he towered above the lawyer.

"I can assure you that I will place the request as soon as I leave this meeting, sir." The lawyer was very careful about what to promise.

"Good." Gabriel finally stopped looking so threatening.

"Could we discuss the options of making a deal with the Chinese government?" The lawyer began with a question but rushed and explained his plan in few brief notes.

"You want me to offer how much?" Gabriel snarled once he heard the sum.

"I am aware you lost your memory sir, but I should warn you there was an inflation and ..." The lawyer explained how much money lost its value.

"You can't be serious, you are wasting our time with this, you could have placed the request for the pin and the brooch already." Gabriel snarled.

"I do not represent Ms Nathalie Sancoeur. I can't request for the brooch." The lawyer replied quietly.

"I am certain the brooch is mine." Gabriel said with confidence. "I have all the evidence for that right here." He pointed to the tablet again.

The lawyer sighed. He was going to place the request for both items. He was paid by the hour.

Gabriel knew he had little chance to get the pin and the brooch this way, but couldn't hurt to try. If he knew for certain, no if he could prove, because he was certain that his son and that girlfriend of his also took the miraculous of Chat Noir and Ladybug off from him at one point, he would have asked to get them back too. According to his notes, once he had the ring and the earrings he was able to change reality according to his wishes. It did not matter how and what he did to get them, but once he had those jewels he would be able to mould the world according to his wishes.


	121. Chapter 121 - Au Revoir

Au Revoir

After their night rendes-vous in the storage room, the two young teenagers sneaked back to their beds, but neither of them could sleep. They could hear more or less soft snoring of the other persons who slept in the same compartment.

"Hey, can you sleep?" Adrien whispered. His mind was a whirlwind of emotions, he was high, he was ecstatic because he just kissed Marinette minutes ago, and then he returned ant the reality caught up to him, he was going back to Paris, but everything has changed.

"Nope." Marinette waved her head. "Not a chance." She had concerns of her own, the identity, the Lila interview, the anxiety what was she going to face the next day in Paris. Nadia wanted an interview. Alya wanted an interview.

"What is bothering you?" Adrien asked first.

"It is Alya, she offered me to do an interview with her where I would clear up all Lila's lies." Marinette frowned. "It is a peace offering of a kind."

"Are you sure you want to acknowledge the liar? Ms Leclerc and your parents already required the video to be removed and made a deal with Nadia about the interview." The boy sighed. "I know this is me taking the high road again. Do what you think is right, but please tell me, I want to be there and clear my name too, I do not want anyone to think I was ever her boyfriend."

"Hm, between being her boyfriend and collaborating with Hawk Moth, I think I got it better." Marinette teased.

"Yeah, don't forget I'm his son." Adrien frowned.

"That does not mean anything." The girl protested.

"I was just thinking, what is going to happen to me now?" The boy talked quietly. "I mean, you are going home, I … guess I never really had a place to call home."

"Oh Adrien." Marinette was sitting up and offered her hand. He took it.

"Your parents offered for me to stay, Nino did too … " Adrien whispered.

"I guess you can do whatever you want, if Mme Leclerc approves. You can stay with me for a few days, move in with Nino once you get the paperwork done. You will get a family to live with." She shrugged.

"It is just, my mum is there in the temple, dead." The boy shuddered. "Gabriel is a monster, behind bars, somewhere." The boy refused to call the man his father any more.

Marinette squeezed his hand, but the boy had such empty look in his eyes that she finally took a step over the gap and sat beside him.

"Why was he such a monster? I mean, he lost mum, he was sad, I get that, but I lost her too and ..." Adrien could not wrap his thoughts. "I actually thought he was getting closer with Nathalie and maybe … actually he was getting close with her. But he just wanted to bring mum back."

"He wanted to change reality, perhaps he did not care how much evil he did and how much he hurt everybody because he would alter reality in the end and it would be as if none of this had ever happened." Marinette shrugged. She was not sure of that.

"You mean he intended to wish all his evil doings away, but … when he takes the Ladybug and Chat Noir miraculous by force, that is also an evil doing, wouldn't that erase the way he got his miraculous?" The boy was confused.

"Probably, I don't know. But, think, once he got the power to change reality, he could wish for anything, and that includes that everyone thinks Hawk Moth is a good guy." Marinette whispered. Adrien felt shivers go down his spine. She looked at Tikki who was hiding in her purse together with Plagg, but both of them shrugged. "I guess we can't know what was going on in his head." She shrugged too.

Adrien understood the behaviour of their kwami, someone might be awake and hear their conversation. They were carefully not to actually reveal their identities. In fact, Tikki and Plagg wanted their wielders to come to their own conclusions without an intrusion from them.

"So he chose to be a monster because he thought it did not matter how he treated people anyway, his wish would have taken it all away?" The boy waved his head.

"Yes, maybe he would even erase the memories of the akuma attacks." Marinette whispered. "The akumatized people do not remember what they did. Maybe after his wish nobody would remember."

Adrien looked at Marinette and pulled her closer. The fear in his eyes was obvious. He would have forgotten about her. She sneaked her arms around and held him back, she could see he needed it.

"Um, perhaps I do not really want to know." Adrien shrugged. "I just want to move on and live my life." He just hoped that was possible, whatever normal life was, it was not as if he ever had that.

"That is probably the only healthy thing to do. Just think of what you can do now." She smiled gently. Marinette was worried about moments like these. Adrien was deep in thought, but his face was much brighter than moments ago.

"I can go back to school." Adrien smiled.

"You probably have to." Marinette nudged him with her shoulder.

"And nobody is going to threaten me to pull me out from the school if I do something … not to their liking." The boy mused.

"Um, it is nice to know what to blackmail you with." Marinette teased.

"You wouldn't." Adrien furrowed his brows.

"Nah." She waved her hand.

"Should I continue fencing?" The boy asked.

"If it makes you happy." She shrugged. They still did not talk about Kagami.

"It does. Kagami wrote to me that she is sorry about Gabriel, she is returning from Japan in a few days." He said quietly. The memory of the girl made them both pause in thought.

"What about Chinese?" Marinette inquired.

"I like learning new things, but maybe I would just keep the practice and learn something else more intensively." The boy was thinking what to do as an alternative.

"You can practice with maman and with Ling and Ye over video chat." Marinette shrugged.

"Yeah, I already know Chinese well enough to read the instructions for instant noodles, I can definitely switch languages now." The boy teased.

"You can practice piano in the art room in school, it is not as grand as the one you have but ..." Marinette continued.

"Yeah, I could do that, and now I could practice any piece I want." Adrien smiled. "Even the keyboards for the Kitty Section. If they will have me."

"Of course they would." She smiled.

"Yeah, Luka wrote I can crash in his room if I have no better place to be." The boy laughed.

"I'm sure Anarka would take you." Marinette was thoughtful.

"I can't imagine larger difference between her parenting and the parenting I am used to." The boy laughed quietly.

"Which means no parenting at all." She teased.

Adrien furrowed his brows. Was she referring to Anarka or Gabriel?

"Come on, that was not parenting what you had, he communicated with you through his secretary, you were his employee." Marinette nudged him in the ribs. But somehow it was not funny once she said it.

"You are right, does that mean I got fired?" The boy held his face and it took a few seconds for Marinette to realize he was just joking.

"I don't know, that is a question for Mme Leclerc." Marinette whispered.

"I guess I will have to ask her about doing modelling." Adrien whispered. "That is if anyone would want me."

"Why wouldn't they? Besides you don't have to do that any more." The girl nudged him.

"Oh, but I have to now." The boy replied a bit more loudly than the rest of their conversation.

"Why?" Marinette inquired.

"My bodyguard, how will I pay him?" Adrien became very serious and concerned.

"He was an employee of Gabriel Agreste, not you?" The girl was not sure.

"I can't just throw him out on the street." The boy was genuinely concerned for his bodyguard.

"I am sure Mme Leclerc has a solution for that, besides they communicate, they must have agreed on something." She tried to remove his worries.

"My bodyguard … he does not speak much." The boy waved his head. He was not sure that anyone took care for the guy.

"He was speaking with my father. He might have issues to deal with too, you know." The girl smiled.

"Yeah I know. I was just too overwhelmed to think about anybody else." Adrien shrugged.

"You have the right to be." Marinette smiled.

"So now I can go to the cinema, to a park with you, Nino, anybody, have a walk by the Seine, got to Liberty to hang out, … " Adrien was counting on his fingers all the things he wanted to do once he got back to Paris.

"You might have to hide from your fans." Marinette teased because he mentioned going to the cinema.

"Oh I know just the person who would help me." The boy teased back.

"You expect me to go to a cinema with a pair of googles and a towel over my head." The girl acted as if she was insulted.

"And in your pyjama." Adrien poked his finger into her shoulder. "Your boyfriend might ask you to wear that onesie he bought you."

Marinette was thinking hard of a way to reply him, but she did not think of anything. Her eyes started closing. Soon, they fell asleep.

Adrien was awoken in the middle of the night when Tom got onto his feet. Tom simply pointed his index and middle fingers into his own eyes and then to Adrien and then back at his eyes. It was a way to tell the boy 'I am watching you'. (Tom is supposed to be half Italian so ...) But Tom had a mischievous smile while he was doing that, he was not good at hiding it, so Adrien nodded and smiled back. Marinette was sleeping in his bed, they were both in some odd half seated position. Tom waved his head and went wherever he intended (probably bathroom). Adrien closed his eyes and went back to sleep, but only after he cuddled Marinette closer.

The next morning was full of tears. Saying goodbye was difficult. But they knew it was not forever. Ling and Ye practically had booked flights for Paris for the next Heroes Day celebrations where they would be the honoured guests of Andre Bourgeois, the mayor of Paris. They were just sorry they had no time left for sightseeing. Hugs, promises to call and write and try to find a way to come back for a visit and Parisians were on their way to the airport while the locals had to take their separate trains.

At the check in gates Adrien noticed that his bodyguard had a large suitcase that the boy did not notice on their way there.

"He is collecting action figures. And they are all produced in China." Tom whispered to the boy once the man noticed the surprise on his face.

"So he bought them all? They are all there?" Adrien looked at the suitcase incredulously.

"Nah, he had to order a few, they will be delivered in a month." Tom smiled.

Passing the security check at the airport was a long wait and then they had to open up everything

and then close it again. Marinette helped with Adrien's suitcase again.

Finding the boarding gate was easy.

Keeping Plagg from exploring the gourmet section of the airport shops with food was beyond

hard.

Once they boarded the plane, all the flight attendants smiled widely and asked if they needed anything. There was a muttered request for Camembert from Adrien's shirt but none of the flight attendants ran away to fetch some cheese, so the kids hoped nobody heard.

Tom and Sabine easily took their seats in the same row with Adrien's bodyguard and Adrien and Marinette sat behind (in the seats that were actually booked for Sabine and Tom). Two large men could not sit next to each other so it was Sabine sandwiched between the two.

The flight attendant offered them to switch seats but they replied they were happy as they were.

"Everyone is so friendly." Tom grinned. Sabine had a knowing smile.

Adrien searched for Plagg in his shirt, in his school bag and in the cheese stash.

"I can't find Plagg." Adrien whisper shouted to Marinette.

She quickly checked her purse. Tikki was alone and just blinked her large blue eyes back at her chosen.

The girl checked the food package for the other kwami, but without success.

They worried, they panicked and then there was an important announcement from the speakers.

"We will separate from the boarding gate as soon as the food carts are replaced with the full ones. This should not affect our schedule. We apologize for any inconvenience." The announcement finished.

Adrien and Marinette exchanged a look. They knew exactly where Plagg was.

"I just hope he does not cataclysm anything on his way." Adrien mouthed to Marinette.

Soon a black blur with green eyes phased from the floor between Marinettes feet.

"Hi Plagg." The girl greeted sweetly while she glared at the black cat. Bug the tiny god of destruction and cheese gluttony did not care. He phased through and then just plopped down on the floor and started to snore.

He was so full he was already unconscious.

"You glutton." Adrien scolded as he gently picked up Plagg and showed him into his shirt pocket.

"We can't even be angry with him. He can't hear us." Marinette waved her head.

The plane soon detached from the building and rolled towards the runaway. Both teens looked through the window at each and every vehicle, airplane, hangar and the control tower. Everything looked the same as when they arrived and yet, everything was different.

"I feel as if a few years have passed since the last time we passed that control tower." Adrien was lost in his thoughts.

Tom and Adrien's bodyguard turned around while Sabine made them both turn forward, but that did not prevent the little woman to peek between the seats and catch a glimpse of the boy.

"Yeah. I know. Me too." Marinette added absent mindedly. The girl caught the eyes of her mother and quickly turned back to look through the window. She squeezed Adrien's hand to reassure him, she then moved and glanced towards the same place, but Sabine turned around.

"We are being watched." She warned Adrien as she whispered to his ear. The boy continued to lean over her and exclaim each item he found new and exciting.

The take off glued them to their seats.

It was the same excitement of seeing the airport and the buildings becoming smaller and farther. Then they could see a few interesting items on the flight, one of them was the Great Wall of China. They could hear other passengers exclaim excitedly while they were flying over. Adrien tried to take a photo with his phone, but the photo was not good.

The flight was long. The flight attendants started to distribute food soon after the plane levelled up. They enjoyed watching the clouds and followed the flight route on the screen. Adrien checked on Plagg who was still unconscious in his shirt pocket. Marinette put her purse opened in front of the window, so Tikki could watch too. Adrien was grateful that Marinette decided to put the miracle box in hand luggage that she put underneath the seat in front of her. That way he could watch it the whole time. He remembered how they travelled to China and he watched the same backpack and had no clue what was inside, how he wondered where was Ladybug. Now he knew. He wrapped his arms around Marinette's waist and soon they were both asleep.

They were woken up by a flight attendant who offered coffee and other drinks. They took some and stretched. They were going to land within half an hour. It was going to be a long day due to a six hour time difference.

"I can't believe this." Adrien sighed. "Everyone can be sad or angry and nobody will be akumatized for it."

"Yeah" Marinette replied absent mindedly. "I have a feeling we have a whole new set of trouble to face." She said quietly.


	122. Chapter 122 - The Welcome Committee

The Welcome Committee

Note: The scenes depicted here would definitely be real for my country and the national airline, I can't say if it is valid for France and its national airline.

"This is the captain speaking We have two very special passengers on our flight today. Thank you. Please enjoy the view." The announcement from the speakers woke up the remaining passengers.

They were flying over the city of Paris. They made a full circle in a loop, they saw the Eiffel tower, Arc de Triomphe and all the other landmarks. It was lunchtime in Paris, the sun was high the air was clear.

"Wow, this is fantastic." Tom exclaimed. Adrien and Marinette looked at each other. They did not see Paris from this height each day, but they reached that height sometimes during the akuma battles. This time they were not in a battle. But their view was limited to what they could see through a small airplane window.

The plane had landed, taxied to the terminal and the tubes attached to it. The passengers stretched and picked up their bags. Many of them were standing and waiting in queue as they were impatient to leave. Adrien and Marinette were close to be the last in line. But they were met by the group of flight attendants and pilots. They all applauded to the two young passengers.

"We all live in Paris. Can we shake your hands?" The captain spoke on behalf of the crew.

"Thank you!" "You are our heroes." "We love you." Pilots and flight attendants spoke as they took turns and shook their hands. There were tears, there were smiles, even hugs, there was laughter. In the end they posed for a few photos together with the crew and visited the cockpit where the captain eagerly explained many of the instruments. They were offered to sit in the pilot's seats, they were offered to talk to the control tower. The air traffic controller was very excited to hear the two of them have arrived and wished them to have a good time but he had to attend to other planes that taxied on the ground towards and from the piste.

"Have you seen what is painted on the fuselage?" One flight attendant asked them.

"Um, we just walked in through the tubes, there were no windows on the tubes." Adrien shrugged.

"Come and see." The flight attendant took them to a part of the building from which they could see the fuselage through the window. There were images of Ladybug and Chat Noir painted on the fuselage.

"Our flight company wanted to honour the heroes this way." The flight attendant explained.

Marinette and Adrien were speechless. There were tears in their eyes. They had to remind themselves not to give away their identities. Adrien remembered to take a photo before the flight attendant took them away. Tom and Sabine were waiting for them while Adrien's bodyguard went to fetch his suitcase.

"Don't be bemused, these are the news. Nadia Chamack here with the newest portion of the latest events coverage. Paris is awaiting the return of our civilian heroes who had defeated Gabriel Agreste and his assistant Nathalie Sancoeur, better known to the public under their supervillain disguises of Hawk Moth and Mayura. The Parisian supervillains were obviously weakened and finally defeated in, now famous, battle in the temple in Tibet by a group of civilians that included two young teenagers from the city of Paris. One of the heroes is none other than Adrien Agreste, he is also the son of one of the villains, which makes his brave act even more heroic. The other teenager is his classmate and aspiring young designer, Marinette Dupain Cheng. The two teenagers are returning home today. Our correspondent, Clara Contard is at the Charles de Gaulle airport to see their safe return." Nadia Chamack spoke her announcement on the Tvi news.

The correspondent stood on the busy airport surrounded with people who rolled their suitcases on their way home. Few waved to the camera and continued.

"This is Clara Contard reporting to you live from Charles de Gaulle airport. We are in the arrivals section waiting for our civilian heroes. It is very busy because other Parisians are returning from their holidays. Each of them heard about the event, the final battle that revealed Hawk Moth was none other but Gabriel Agreste while he was defeated by none other than his son Adrien Agreste. The boy and his sister in arms Marinette Dupain Cheng who helped defeat Hawk Moth and Mayura should pass these gates any moment now. These college (note: that is early high school in France) students travelled to China for the holidays where they visited several landmarks, enjoyed time with the family, practised foreign language and did everything other college students do on their holidays. Now, there are rumours that Jagged Stone is waiting for the two teenagers in the VIP section. We have seen Clara Nightingale pass that way. Mayor Andre Bourgeois is here, waiting with his family." The news field reporter rambled as she waited for Adrien and Marinette to appear. Then she took the next best thing and that was talking to the mayor of Paris. The camera zoomed in on the Bourgeois family in the distance while the correspondent walked slowly in their direction followed by the cameraman.

Adrien and Marinette were taken to the VIP section, followed by Tom and Sabine. Adrien's bodyguard was about to join them once he picked up his checked luggage.

"Marinette" A very well known man's voice greeted from across the room.

"Uncle Jagged." Marinette greeted. "Hi Penny." The girl only started to notice other people in the room.

Fang crawled around Marinette and Adrien. Sabine was scared and Tom pulled her closer for safety. Adrien's bodyguard gave Fang a warning look but the animal insisted they make friends, then the large man patted the animal's head and they started to chase each other around the large room as they played.

"Hi Clara" Adrien greeted as soon as he saw her dancing towards them.

They exchanged hugs before a woman approached Adrien.

"Hi Adrien. Nice to finally meet you young man." Adrien's legal representative shook his hand full of energy.

"Hi Augusta, nice to meet you too in person. You look better than on the screen of my phone." Adrien replied.

"Don't you flatter me boy. Mister Jagged over there insisted to bring me along. He wants to take you in his limousine." She spoke quickly and up to the point and avoided telling him 'the car was taken by the authorities because the car is registered to your father' since it might disturb him.

Adrien took the message nevertheless. She saw him sunk into himself a little.

"Do you need anything from the house? I can go and fetch it for you." The woman offered. She knew the boy did not want to step inside the Agreste mansion if he could help it.

"Thank you, but I have everything I need to go to school tomorrow either here or in my school locker." Adrien replied. "I will go there at some later time." He did need a few things, but he did not want anything labelled with Gabriel brand.

Marinette was surrounded but Adrien managed to introduce Augusta to her and her parents.

"Mister Jagged over here offered a room in his hotel suite for you, but I had to decline that as it would be better to put you in a family." Augusta explained with a laugh.

"You are welcome to come for a visit, any time." Jagged told both kids.

"Thank you Jagged." Marinette grinned.

"I certainly will." Adrien beamed at his favourite rock star.

Clara Contard finally made it into the VIP section.

"Jagged, Jagged Stone!" She called as she ran after the rock star. "We heard a rumour that you wanted to meet our civilian heroes."

"Marinette was always my hero." Jagged winked to the camera. "And my favourite designer." Then Jagged continued to talk about Marinette, how they met, about the glasses and the album cover and so on and so forth.

"How about you Clara. Have you met our civilian heroes before?" Clara Contard asked the famous singer Clara Nightingale.

"Video we made, right on cue, they certainly made my dreams come true, defeated the villains in a fight, I just danced and sang all night." The singer spoke in verses as she danced around the journalist.

"Here are the proud parents of Marinette Dupain Cheng, this is Tom Dupain and Sabine Cheng. Are you proud of your daughter?" The journalist as she pointed the microphone into Sabine's face. Tom was glad she picked his wife over him.

"We can be proud now that everything is over and she is safe and sound with us." Sabine replied with a small smile. She was warned by Nadia that there were journalists waiting for them at the airport, but this was just much more than she expected.

"What can you tell us about your travel. The public is anxious to know all the details." The journalist inquired. Sabine told how they flew and then took a train but she remained technical and not go into details how Adrien and Marinette actually joined the group of students on their excursion to the temple.

"How did you like your time in China?" The journalist asked Tom.

"Well I had fun, made new friends." Tom touched his chin. "But I am ready to go back to work now." He grinned.

"And I can't wait four you to return to work, man, we really miss your macarons." Jagged Stone leaned onto Tom. "Nobody makes them as good as you do, man!" Jagged held his signature rock'n'roll fists.

Penny stepped in. "You are going to get the macarons in due time, Jagged. Let the people unpack and adjust to the time difference."

"Penny, you have organized making that show 'In your shoes' with Jagged Stone in the Dupain Cheng bakery, haven't you?" Clara Contard asked her swiftly.

Penny obviously did not like to be reminded of the day she got akumatized, but she was already used to all kinds of media intrusions so she took a stride with it.

"Yes I have." She replied calmly.

"And it was such a great show. Tom and me made pastry and had fun." Jagged smiled. "And I see our little girl got the boy she dreamed about." Jagged teased Marinette who blushed severely.

Penny tried to stop him, but nobody stopped a rock star once he was in his element.

"I did not forget about your young love, it inspired me to write a song about you two, would you like to hear it?" Fang hopped over carrying his guitar in his teeth.

"It is a bit rough and unfinished but here is the melody." And then he played a few notes on the electric guitar that was not plugged in into an amplifier.

Adrien grinned widely. "You wrote a song about us, Jagged?" The boy was practically pouncing in his place from excitement.

"Th-thank you Jagged." Marinette stuttered.

"Well it is mostly about Marinette being in love with you boy, from afar, not much about you in there." Jagged shrugged.

Adrien beamed at Marinette. It was clear he was happy. He even put an arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer. The girl was so flustered she only tried to hide her face.

"But now I will make a new song about how you fought, you rebel you!" Jagged nudged the boy with his shoulder. "You are a couple of badass teenagers, you know." The rock star winked.

"They are not and you know it." Penny tried to pull him away so he does not steal the show, but the kids obviously did not mind that. She was smiling gently at the rock star so her scolding had no chance of hitting a target.

"This is ridiculous, utterly ridiculous." A familiar voice broke through the room. "I am the daughter of the mayor of Paris, Andre Bourgeois and a famous editor of a fashion magazine, Audrey Bourgeois. I should have been here first."

"But, darling, I did not book the VIP room." The voice of the mayor of Paris followed her. "Besides, I have to be outside with the voters."

"You should understand, sweetheart, your father has the responsibility to the people who chose him." Audrey continued in uncharacteristic gentle tone that she would never use in public.

"Sweetheart? Responsibility? What is wrong with you mother?" Chloe shrieked. She was still disgusted with the gentle ways her parents turned to.

All the cameras in the room turned towards the newest intruders.

"Besides, look, there are cameras, you can reach many more voters this way." Chloe motioned towards the cameras, while she flashed her pony tail and pretended to be interested in something else. "This is far better way to engage with the public, you can't see their despicable outfits, while they can see your glorious one."

Adrien and Marinette were taking turns in rolling their eyes.

"Oh Adriekins, I missed you so much while I was in New York. You wouldn't believe what happened to me ..." The girl rambled but Adrien just smiled and stopped listening. Jagged was stealing the show, not intently, and kept dragging Adrien and Marinette along as he chatted with everyone and anyone.

"This is Clara Contard again, live to you from the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, France. The two civilian heroes have arrived. You can join us later this afternoon where they will give a live interview to Nadia Chamack in her live show." The journalist said her greetings.

"An interview?" Both teens were incredulous.

"A live interview?" Tom raised his eyebrows, Sabine looked as if she was steaming.

"This afternoon?" Augusta and Sabine finally asked.

"Yes, the two of them are expected in the studio in less than two hours." Clara Contard confirmed. "I was told you agreed to that."

"Um, we have agreed to an interview. But live and right away?" the two kids shrugged.

"Well, the TV network decided to do it today, you already approved the list of questions, haven't you?" Both women confirmed as they looked at the two teens.

"We basically insisted on no questions about that interview and nothing personal." Sabine shrugged.

"I am really sorry Adrien, I do not have so much experience in the public relations business. I mean, I have some, I write statements all the time, but you are much bigger star than that and with all of this that happened." The lawyer obviously felt like she failed her client.

"That is okay, I agreed too." Adrien smiled widely.

"Besides, we will have to face the press sooner or later, right?" Marinette smiled while her insides were filled with excited butterflies. She was about to appear on TV with Adrien on the same TV show where Nadia got akumatized. Well, at least they could scratch that part off the list.

Adrien felt her concern.

"What is it?" The boy asked quietly.

"Well, you know what she is ready to do for viewers." The girl voiced her concerns.

"We will deal with that." Adrien shrugged. "Besides we can always refuse to answer a question, right?" He smiled.

Marinette smiled back. "I guess so."

"I say it is time to check my ride." Jagged Stone smirked and puled Penny and Adrien along. Adrien took Marinette's hand, while Penny got Sabine. Tom, Adrien's bodyguard and Fang tagged along easily. Nobody dared to stand in front of those three or block their way.

"They are coming! They are coming!" Screams could be heard through the grand space of the airport arrivals section. Jagged Stone waked tall with Penny by his side. He was used to fame and airports. The rest of the group followed after him, with Tom and Adrien's bodyguard towering above the rest of the group.


	123. Chapter 123 - The Interview

The Interview

Alya wanted to handle the interview with Adrien and Marinette all by herself, she wanted the interview for the Ladyblog, Marinette and Adrien were her friends, she was doing them a favour during the travel to China, well at least to Adrien, and she followed each of their steps (as far as she knew) but she knew after the Lila incident she might be asking too much.

On the other hand, Nadia Chamack was like a family friend, Marinette babysat Manon often, even Alya babysat Manon occasionally, it was her who asked Sabine and Tom first, it was her who made a deal with Adrien's legal representative. She made her promises to the network and to the adults.

It was Alya's site that live streamed the video of the battle, she was regarded as a perspective journalist, even with some content pulled out from her blog. She gave one brief statement regarding the photos that somehow started to circulate various news sites as well as tabloid and gossip sections. Alya wanted a proper interview to clear her name and her blog.

Therefore, Nadia started the show by interviewing Alya.

"You are just a kid, you can make mistakes." Nadia told her in the studio of Tvi before the main stars (Adrien and Marinette) arrived. Alya spoke about her blog. She confirmed the authenticity of the photos and stressed they were private.

Finally, Adrien and Marinette arrived to the studio. There was a huge applause from the technical staff and everyone else present, then there was cheering, a few whistles and screams, apparently everyone in the building was needed in that studio.

Marinette stumbled over the step that she had to take to the small podium in the middle of the room. Adrien minimized the damage, the TV viewers could barely notice anything had happened.

Alya jumped to her feet to hug her friends.

Alya and Nadia sat on two chairs on one side while Marinette and Adrien sat on a wide couch on the other side. It was a half an hour of friendly conversation about how they travelled and what they did.

"Adrien, would you like to say anything about Gabriel Agreste." Nadia was warned not to use the words 'your father', besides, she knew better.

"Honestly, I don't know what to say." The boy took a breath. "I will not elaborate on that." He added quickly. "As far as I know, he was doing that to bring my mother back." The boy took one more breath and Marinette squeezed his hand.

"You do not have to go through that now." Marinette spoke quietly, but she had a microphone on so everyone heard her.

"But that does not justify what he had done. I can understand the grief but not the rest. Just … don't ever buy that he was doing that for me. I didn't know. He never asked me what I wanted."

Nadia nodded understandingly.

"I actually sneaked away to China with my bodyguard because he refused to take me with him. I wanted to go." Adrien waved his head. "He refused. I didn't know why he was going there and I did not know why he did not want me to tag along."

"Why did you want to go to China, Adrien?" Nadia asked patiently.

"I have been learning Chinese for years now, I wanted some practice in the real life, and to travel, and see the sights, and ..." The real reason was to go to the temple because he was Chat Noir, but the cover story he had was believable. Adrien was at a loss for words, his only family member travelled there and did not want to bring him along.

"He learned Chinese so well he can prepare the instant noodles." Marinette added quickly and nudged him in the shoulder. She wanted to switch to merrier subject and cheer up the mood.

"You cook?" Alya practically shouted at Adrien.

"We made lunch on the train." Adrien shrugged. "And dinner too." He schooled his face not to show his Chat Noir smirk after those statements.

Then they explained how they travelled and thanked the airline, then they spoke about the train and the temple. They went through the whole list of questions when Nadia got further instructions.

"Can we take a few questions from our viewers?" Nadia asked excitedly.

The two teens agreed. Adrien felt how Plagg scratched his chest under his shirt. Marinette felt how Tikki patted her thigh through her purse. They both knew they might have made a mistake by accepting additional questions.

"So, I can't help but ask what everyone wants to know. Are you Ladybug and Chat Noir?" Nadia finally asked.

"We, um." Adrien spoke with his perfect and essentially artificial model smile on his face.

Marinette's eyes went wide in panic and she started breathing quickly.

"Many members of the public suggested that you two are in fact Ladybug and Chat Noir." Nadia clarified the statement. "So are you?" she insisted on getting her answer.

"Um, we are Adrien and Marinette." the boy stated the obvious and even emphasised his statement with his hands. "We fought Hawk Moth and Mayura as civilians."

Alya's eyes went wide as she stared at Marinette. There was something in her eyes that shouted 'you traitor' with a smirk to her best friend. But Marinette was speechless at first.

"But why would anyone think that?" Marinette looked around desperate for some help. Apparently there was none.

"I mean, we are a bit confused by this question. Ladybug and Chat Noir … they were there, they fought Hawk Moth and Mayura." Adrien continued.

"Why aren't you speaking, Marinette?" Alya asked with narrowed eyes.

"I, um, can't believe you asked me that." Marinette flailed her hands all around her head. "I mean." she motioned towards Alya and hit a glass of water that stood on the small table between them, and the girl winced as she noticed the water spilled over the floor. "You know me." Marinette added as she quickly picked up the glass and looked for something to wipe the water. Someone run over and wiped the floor quickly as Marinette stared and motioned with her hands as if she wanted to help. She looked so helpless, not at all as a superhero.

Adrien hid his face away from the cameras and smirked.

"Yeah, you know her Alya, and you know me, and you already know Marinette's cousins, Ling and Ye, although you never met them in person, they were there the whole time too, that is how you got all those news from the temple and from us." The boy stared at his friend, he could not believe she would betray them like that.

"Hello ladies and gentlemen." the boy heard his own voice from behind him and turned around. The voice was cut by screams and cheering just like when Adrien and Marinette entered the studio. There was Chat Noir standing on the edge of the small podium, followed closely by Ladybug. She waved her hand as greeting.

"Good evening everybody." Ladybug greeted as she approached. They both sat next to Adrien and Marinette on the long sofa intended for guests. Chat Noir took a seat next to Marinette and instantly leaned into her space. Adrien frowned at him, the boy was more confused by looking at himself than the move towards Marinette, but Adrien's face was quickly interpreted as jealousy.

Ladybug plopped down on the couch next to Adrien, she put her hand on Adrien's shoulder as if she signalled him to calm down. He looked back at her and smiled his widest smile. She smiled back and they both turned to Marinette and Chat Noir. There might have been some blushing involved but their faces were covered by so much make up (mandatory for the studio cameras and lighting) that nobody else could know but them. Adrien soon realized Ladybug kept her hand on his shoulder and leaned into his space too. She even put her other hand over his.

There were screams from the audience. Both journalists were speechless for an extended period of time and simply stared at the two superheroes.

"We just wanted to come over and thank these two a_meow_zing young people." Chat spoke and drawled the words out while he waved different people in the audience with one hand and wrapped his other arm around Marinette's waist.

"They dealt with the villains while we were not able to." Ladybug spoke and looked at the floor because she was not sure where to look.

"That is okay." Marinette spoke as if she just woke up.

"We felt obliged to help." Adrien added with a few nods. He looked at Chat Noir briefly and then turned to Ladybug and smiled widely. The confusion in his eyes was obvious.

Marinette simply stared at Chat Noir on her side with a huge grin on her face.

"You teleported or something?" Alya finally remembered the questions she wanted to ask one day when she got the superheroes to give her an interview.

"Um, yes, we did." Ladybug spoke quietly while she stared at the remaining glass of water on the table.

"Yeah, you see, we could not possibly be there the whole time, you know." Chat Noir added.

"Sorry to keep you waiting for so long." Ladybug added. It was awkward, but the viewers interpreted her attitude as if she felt guilty that she needed the help of civilians.

"And you really helped. It was you who finally won the ultimate battle against Hawk Moth and Mayura. This girl over here is a_meow_zing." Chat Noir grinned. Marinette rolled her eyes at his repeated pun.

"You were really brave." Ladybug added with her signature smile as she looked at Adrien. "Both of you." She avoided to look at Marinette, she felt stupid to look at herself as she spoke. This was an interview, she was supposed to talk with the audience.

"Thank you." Adrien smiled back a bit dazed and confused by her presence. He quickly looked around and straight into Marinette. He was confused, all right.

"Um, yes, thank you." Marinette stammered out.

"May I just emphasize how brave this girl was." Chat Noir added as he wrapped his other arm around Marinette. The girl squeaked. Adrien looked at Chat with surprised eyes and his face became more serious. Most of the people in the audience concluded the boy was slightly jealous of the superhero. "She took all that beating without a superhero suit on."

"Don't forget the bravery of this young man. It was really hard for him." Ladybug added as she moved over to Adrien and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Oh, I think she did better." Chat Noir grinned at Ladybug.

"I would disagree, he had a much tougher task before him." Ladybug argued, she implied it was because he was fighting his own father, but she chose not to say the words and remind him.

Both Nadia and Alya looked at the four of them, their eyes flicked left and right as if they followed the exchange.

"Ladybug, Chat Noir, could you tell us a little more about the battles you had at the temple?" Nadia improvised the question.

"Um yes, it was mostly like any other akuma battle." Ladybug shrugged.

"Save the commute." Chat Noir winked. Ladybug smiled.

"Until they produced multiple sentimonsters." Ladybug continued and visibly shuddered at the memory.

"Did you know Hawk Moth and Mayura were actually there, in the temple?" Alya asked once there was a brief period of silence.

"We suspected, but, we could not be certain." Ladybug answered as vaguely as she could. She could not say that they knew they were not in the temple but in the container camp below.

"There was no video or photographic evidence of the two villains in the temple for the first few attacks." Chat Noir continued.

"We would like to thank all the Chinese students in the temple who kept sending us the notifications about the akuma and sentimonster attacks." Ladybug cut in.

"Yes, I am _paw_sitive it was really_ fur_tunate _fur_ us to have such _claw_esome people there." Chat Noir purred. Marinette and Ladybug took turns in rolling their eyes.

"Anyway. We are here to thank all of you, the citizens of Paris and especially the two of you for all the help, love and support we received." Ladybug spoke gently.

"Yes, My Lady, out _fur_endly citizens who always came to help us when we exhausted all our resources." Chat Noir continued. Marinette and Ladybug both rolled their eyes to the pun.

"Especially when the miraculous were taken from us." Ladybug continued in more serious tone as she glared at Chat Noir. There was a loud surprised reaction from the audience while both Alya and Nadia gasped.

"It was you two who got the ring and the earrings back to us." Chat smiled gently at Marinette.

"Our identities are still a secret." Ladybug warned Alya and Nadia as both of them wanted to say a question simultaneously. They both lowered their hands.

"Well, My Lady, I think our job here is done." Chat Noir said as he got onto his feet.

"I agree." Ladybug got to her feet too.

"Stay pawsitive everyone." Chat Noir greeted.

"You can be sad and angry but try not to be." Ladybug smiled her signature smile to the camera.

"We think you two are clawesome." Chat Noir smiled to Marinette.

The two superheroes got on their feet and both of them waved their hands as they left the studio.

"Wait, Ladybug Chat Noir, what will you do now that Hawk Moth and Mayura are gone?" Alya shouted after them, but the superheroes ignored her.

"Okay. Sorry for that question. I think we could wrap up this interview." Nadia proposed and waited for a response from her producer.

"After this surprise visit, I think we can give our young heroes a break." Nadia added as she looked to the camera.

They said their greetings and Adrien and Marinette went back to their dressing room. There, they met Bunnix.

"I arrived to do some damage control over here." Bunnyx spoke as she winked.

Adrien and Marinette looked at each other.

"Damage control?" Adrien asked as he looked rather confused. But the appearance of Ladybug and Chat Noir during the interview made much more sense instantly.

"I thought you were the weapon of the last resort." Marinette was exasperated.

"Oh I am, trust me, you tried to protect your identity in many different ways after this fiasco but it did not work." Bunnix waved her head.

"Oh, so this is to protect our identities then?" Adrien whispered.

"You are both guardians now, if your identities become known to the public it starts a disaster." Bunnix explained.

The two civilian teenagers looked at each other in horror.

"Come on, transform. I am sending you back to the fifteen minutes ago. You already know what to say." Bunnix smiled. "And just hide somewhere here and detransform after you are finished."

Adrien smirked, Marinette laughed and they both transformed into Ladybug and Chat Noir.

"So the plan is to reduce the number of questions to a minimum." Ladybug smiled.

"After you, My Lady." Chat Noir smirked as he motioned for her to go through the portal.


	124. Chapter 124 - Cutting Losses

Cutting Losses

On their next meeting, Nathalie made a deal with her lawyer. She was going to have her own case and her own defence. She agreed on full cooperation with the authorities, both the Chinese and the French. She offered to share the contents of her tablet and the documents she found on the cloud only to learn that the French authorities already reached the data on the cloud.

That part was understandable. But then she learned that the Chinese authorities already cloned the contents of her tablet. That disturbed her quite a bit.

"They have the access to everything? My codes? My diary? All the schedules?" Nathalie asked exasperatedly.

"Yes they do, since the day you were transferred here." The lawyer confirmed.

Nathalie stared into the space before her. She was always a secluded person. She never exposed herself. It was always about representing the company, she represented Gabriel, not her, when she stood in front of people to make an argument or engaged in heavy business negotiations. That was not her, that was just business, right?

But who was she? What was she? What kind of a person was she? She had no clue, she read her own diary and had no clue. The prospect that someone somewhere had read everything about her and possibly knew more about her than she knew herself frightened her. She felt cold sweat and shivers down her spine. She shook visibly.

"I understand that is hard to take in, once you are arrested, there is no privacy." The lawyer tried to comfort the woman.

"I just … I do not remember anything in the last fifteen years except the stuff I read here." Nathalie spoke quietly.

"Perhaps that is a good thing. Perhaps you should remember what you were … before." Her lawyer replied gently. She was not a psychologist, but she knew the woman felt disturbed.

"Before … before I started working for Gabriel? Before I ever met him?" Nathalie allowed herself to try and remember any early memory, family, parents, childhood friends.

"Yes, why don't you try with that?" Her lawyer suggested. "It is not common to get psychological help here but I might be able to get you one if you want." The fact that Nathalie refused to get one in the beginning was making things harder. Her client was silent and deep in thought. (Note: The statement is totally based on Wikipedia)

"I … might like that. I'd like to be able to talk to someone." Nathalie finally admitted. She seldom really talked with anyone. It was always about schedules and what needed to be done. "I never really had someone to just talk to I guess. You know about everything and nothing."

"Listen, I have one more hour. Why don't we just sit and talk, as if we are sitting on some terrace and having coffee?" The lawyer proposed and visibly relaxed.

Nathalie followed her example. It was a rough start, but the lawyer, apparently, knew what idle chat was, and the two of them soon engaged into a conversation about everything and nothing, they found something in common to talk about, they found something else to make fun with and after a while, Nathalie felt she might actually feel like a person again.

(That might make her look at what she did in different light and actually feel guilty for it).

Gabriel decided to study how Gabriel Fashions worked in the past fifteen years. The numbers looked good, huge growth, large income, sales risen. He was obviously doing well. That was probably thanks to Nathalie, she was an assistant but she had a feeling for business, she always helped with a suggestion here and there.

Then he went through the archive of the designs. He noticed how he pulled the butterfly theme through his designs year in and year out, some things never went out of style. He noticed most of them were modelled by Emilie, she became the face of the brand. Artistically speaking, the photos were perfect. But he wondered about the designs themselves. They looked perfect on Emilie, but would the same design be so perfect for any other woman? Several of these designs, would, for sure, be a picture of elegance on any woman of the right proportions. But he was certain that some of those designs were made just for Emilie. There was no way any other woman would ever pull out some of those pieces like she did. He studied his own work and how it evolved. He frowned at a few, he wondered what was he thinking for the other, he was amazed by the third.

There were comments from the fashion critiques attached to the images, many of them were from Audrey Bourgeois. He knew her ways of throwing an insult while it sounded like a praise and praising something while it sounded as if she was cold and indifferent towards it. He was satisfied with the critiques, he was satisfied with the business and he was generally satisfied with the artistic quality of his designs.

He went through the pictures again and looked at Emilie. So this was his wife, this was the woman he married, and this was the woman who gave birth to his son. She remembered how he proclaimed her his muse early on, when she started modelling for his company. And indeed she was. Because she had that look. It was hard to explain, but everything on her looked expensive, she had that million dollar look. Indeed she had.

The dresses she modelled always looked delicate and exquisite. The suits she wore were always elegant and smooth. It was easy to design for her. She would look great wearing a towel. She probably looked great wearing a towel, she was a model. She looked fantastic. He searched for the photo of their wedding. Everything was picture perfect. The arrangement, the space, the light, the posture, polite smiles and power poses. There was that look in their eyes, they observed the world from above, to anyone who looked at the photo. They were a power couple indeed.

He went through more of her photos. He remembered how modelling was just a side job for her. She really wanted to be an actress, she was never shy to admit what she really wanted, he remembered that clearly. She claimed this was just a temporary deal for her and that she wanted to act, not in anything, oh no, she had the looks that would have brought her a role in a film easily. She wanted to act in artistic films or in the theatre. He despised the actresses in the theatre. He loved the theatrics, but when it was executed and/or orchestrated by him.

So he knew how she wanted to be and actress. But from the amount of material he saw, he concluded she must have changed her mind and decided that modelling was better career for her. And he would agree, she was good for his business indeed.

(Do not ask me to go into details, I do not have a clue about fashion).

She often modelled together with their son. First as a baby, hen a toddler. Then there were more and more photos of the boy on his own without his mother. The boy clearly imitated his mother. Their eyes were definitely not the only thing that was the same on them. The hair, the way they carried themselves, the way they smiled, that look and the expression on their faces. The boy was a copy of his mother.

But that was the boy who ripped the pin off his suit, that was the boy who had stolen his miraculous, and that was the boy who defeated him so that he was apprehended and in custody in a nondescript detention facility somewhere in China (it was Lhasa but it started to be all the same for him). And he hated the boy, he despised the boy. No, he could not indulge himself in such intense emotions, that was not Agreste like. Gabriel Agreste decided that he _disliked_ Adrien.

And that was the boy that had become the face of his fashion brand after Emilie disappeared?

He went through the photos of various designs.

Did that stuff really sell? He checked the data. It did. He could not believe it. The sales of the items he modelled did excellent on the market. But these pieces were leisure. Of course they were elegant for that sort of clothing but that was casual. He did not do casual. He was never casual.

Then he saw the photos of his son in a suit and a bowler hat. Those photos were marked as most viewed and most popular items on the website of his brand as well as the most shared photos and so on and so forth. So he studied the designs. The suit was acceptable. He wondered if the choice that a fourteen year old boy modelled that suit was right. Especially with that hairstyle. It was perfectly styled of course, but it was perfectly styled in wild and untamed not in slick and stern style that he preferred. Even the hat did not help that hairstyle. The design was decent. The hat was covered in feathers. He studied the hat intently. And then he read the information attached. He designed the suit. But the hat he did not design, the hat was the design of Marinette Dupain Cheng. And he remembered that name clearly, not from fifteen years ago, that was the name of the girl who fought him, that was the name of the girl who ripped the brooch off from Nathalie. He read that she won some competition that was held in school and it was him who organised it. Since when did Gabriel Agreste organize fashion and design competitions in schools? Was he out of his mind? When did he find time for that? And why would he? Was he so desperate to find new designers who would work for his company?

It was late in the night. There were breaking news and a live stream from Tvi, from Paris. Gabriel never followed the news, that was a job for Nathalie, she was the filter, she would pass him the information she deemed important. But Nathalie was not there and he clicked on the notification.

It was an interview with a girl who ran a blog devoted to Ladybug and Chat Noir. Well he might as well listen for a bit. She apologized for some leaked photos and for posting the interview with Lila Rossi and claimed the mentioned girl also spilled a bunch of lies related to Hawk Moth. Well Gabriel remembered that name. Lila Rossi sent him what he needed to reach the documents on the cloud. He wanted to search for that particular interview instantly when he heard the announcement. They will continue the interview with two more guests, Marinette Dupain Cheng and Adrien Agreste.

That glued him to the screen. They looked like two kids from the neighbourhood, literally any neighbourhood. Adrien was not wearing designer clothes, any designer clothes, let alone his brand. Neither did she, at least not any designer known to him, and there were fifteen years he missed, but there was no label, so no designer, he decided. His boy had been on a TV show before, obviously, he was well behaved and well versed, but just stop messing with that hair of yours, leave it alone, it looks like a mess as it is already.

They even talked like two kids from the neighbourhood. She wanted to be a designer, he was a model. What a cliché. They spoke about how they spent their school break? That was an interview to be published on a TV station? They might have picked up any random kids from the street for that. There were few photos from the temple and the kids spoke about the battles with akumas and sentimonsters. There was not much new to hear. He was disappointed.

Finally a question about him. Yes. The boy looked disturbed, but not as much as Gabriel would like him to be. The man wanted to see anger, he wanted to see rage, he wanted to see deep and inconsolable sorrow that would spiral into depression given time. He wanted to see a wreck of a human being that would cry into the camera and beg his father to take him back after what he did.

Suddenly the conversation switched to the identities of the superheroes. He remembered that somewhere in his notes he actually suspected Adrien was Chat Noir but he dismissed it. He also noted Marinette Dupain Cheng as a potential Ladybug, but neither proved it nor dismissed it.

That would explain a lot.

But just as he started to make plans, he had to dismiss them. Because the said superheroes walked into the TV studio. His own son was obviously smitten with the girl in the magical suit to the point that he looked plain stupid. That did not prevent him from possessively glaring at the boy in a catsuit when he touched that Marinette girl.

Did he raise that? Was that his son? And that was the boy who snatched the butterfly miraculous off from his chest. For all he knew, the boy still had it. The wave of disappointment washed over Gabriel Agreste, because he could not even say that he was defeated by an opponent he deemed worthy. Then again, this was good, he could always use little emotional blackmail to get his pin back, the boy was obviously clueless. The girl probably kept the brooch. The plans and the schemes started to form in his head on their own. He usually discussed all his plans with Nathalie before he developed them further or dismissed them. This time he was on his own (for now, he thought) so he schemed and planned and made notes.

It was slightly before the dawn that Gabriel remembered there was something labelled as an interview with Lila Rossi. The links he found lead to videos that have been removed in the meantime. What was there? He had to know. But he did not have Nathalie's expertize to dig out the information himself.

His lawyer arrived and informed him that he placed the requests to return the pin and the brooch that were actually butterfly and peacock miraculous, but that was not stated so in the request. Those two items were not listed in the list of possessions that were either on him, or on Nathalie, or in the container they used as their accommodation. Gabriel sighed.

"Of course they were not. Those two items were forcibly taken from Nathalie and me. They were stolen by Adrien Agreste and his accomplice Marinette Dupain Cheng." Gabriel answered far more calmly than the lawyer expected at first. "We are going to sue them" Gabriel raised his nose.

The lawyer knew better than to contradict that. He informed his client on the cost of the lawsuit and other potential financial loses that could arise if they lose the case (that the lawyer deemed certain but never voiced out loud).

"I expect us to win." Gabriel replied calmly. "I expect you cut all financial means for Adrien, him and his accomplice will not be able to afford a lawsuit at all and will return those items."

The lawyer made a note. He reminded himself he was paid well and he was paid by the hour. He decided not to tell Gabriel he was not able to make any financial decisions about Adrien, that was already done, he was not able to take away what was already given to the boy.

"I want you to find me an interview with Lila Rossi that she gave at some time during the last week or two." Gabriel demanded.

The lawyer made a note.

"The French and the Chinese authorities have questions for you regarding the disappearance of Emilie Agreste." The lawyer stated calmly the actual reason why he was there.

"What about that?" Gabriel frowned.

"Well, they want to know your account of her exact disappearance and known whereabouts." The lawyer continued.

"What?" The designer shouted. How dare they? That was preposterous.

"You see, they have reached a substantial proof that her whereabouts were known to you this whole time, that she or her body was kept in the basement area of the Agreste mansion." The lawyer continued.

"We should go through the potential list of questions, sir." The lawyer told him.

"Sir, do you want to add murder to the list of criminal charges facing you?" The lawyer asked flatly.

"Murder?" The designer cut in incredulously.

"The circumstances of your wife's departure are unknown. There is evidence that her body was stored in a device in the basement of your house." The lawyer continued.

"You mean her body is gone?" Gabriel screamed.

The lawyer touched his glasses again. It was clearly just a nervous tick. He was not ready for this question. The last thing he mentioned was the evidence from the basement.

"The device in your basement is empty." The lawyer stated a fact he knew for certain.

"Where is she?" Gabriel snarled.

"I am not acquainted with the whereabouts of Emilie Agreste, sir." The lawyer replied coldly.

"Have they taken her?" The designer screamed out with a note of despair in his voice.

There was something ambiguous in the word they. The word taken held meaning.

"The authorities have not located her yet." It took some time for the lawyer to decide what the actual answer he should offer in this case. "The authorities wan to know what state the body was, was she alive or dead? Why was she there?" The lawyer asked with an attempt of authority.

"I do not remember." Gabriel replied quietly. He knew about that only what he read in the notes. She was definitely not alive. He wanted the ring and the earrings to bring her back. That was probably understandable because she was the face of his company. He was probably getting desperate if that boy of hers became the face of the company. That same boy who took his miraculous. That must have been the reason why he took it.

"There was some information on that device you have." The lawyer continued patiently. "The authorities have the copy of all your files." He continued with a warning.

"She fell ill." Gabriel replied quietly. "She was in a coma." He continued as he pondered what would be acceptable answer. He could not really admit she was dead even to himself, never to anyone else. "I wanted to bring her back." The man finished.

"Do you have any medical records?" The lawyer asked while he was making notes.

"You want Emilie's medical records?" Gabriel asked with a threat in his voice.

"It would help your case, sir." The man fixed his glasses. He had a vague idea that perhaps he was not paid that well.

"I … my assistant, Nathalie Sancouer should know where to get those." The designer connected his hands behind his back and looked away from his lawyer.

"Okay, thank you. I will assemble your statement your statement now so you can sign it." The lawyer was typing quickly on his tablet.

Gabriel stood there with his back turned towards his lawyer. He did not care if he was in prison. He did not want to get out, particularly. But he wanted to be in control. He wanted to pull the strings. He wanted his power. And he was becoming aware that he had little power left.


	125. Chapter 125 - Pastry

Pastry

It was the time just after the interview, Ladybug and Chat Noir left the studio and hid in the changing room where they detransformed.

"It was awkward to sit there." Adrien whispered after he detransformed. "I just had to sit next to you. It would have been awkward the other way around."

"Yeah, I know the feeling." Marinette laughed nervously. He was touchy as Adrien and as Chat Noir, but he was careful what he did in front of the cameras as Adrien.

"It would look odd on TV too." Adrien thought how it would look if Chat Noir hugged Adrien instead of Marinette. As Chat he would not care, but as Adrien he was trained. Perhaps it was a bit more than just a friendly hug. Perhaps he glared at himself for a reason. He was not aware he glared at Chat while he was Adrien, but he definitely saw it when he was Chat.

"I can't believe how much make up I am wearing. I bet this is how a building feels when it gets a facade." Marinette was frustrated. She wanted to find a make up remover. Adrien was quick to locate a nondescript bottle.

"Here it is." He exclaimed as he retrieved the bottle. They got busy with removing layers of make up.

"I totally forgot how this feels." He said while he wiped the layers from off his face. "I did not miss this at all." He added.

The two of them met Alya in the hallway. She was excited about the superheroes and had ideas for her future interviews for her blog. She was as lively as ever. She was so excited about her own interview with Nadia, her two friends who returned from China and the surprise encounter with Ladybug and Chat Noir that she entirely forgot anything else. Nino met them in front of the building.

"Dude" Nino greeted Adrien with a hug and then did the same with Marinette. "I can't stay long, but I had to be here, I am so glad you are back and okay."

"Thank you Nino" Marinette replied with a wide smile.

"Thanks Dude." Adrien replied. "I will be staying with Marinette this evening and we can agree when can I move in tomorrow."

"That is great because I got some family over for a visit, they have some errand to do in Paris." Nino smiled.

"So the two of you are together now or what?" Alya asked what was on her mind for the last two weeks, she might have asked earlier, but she kept babbling about anything and everything that happened that day and avoided one other particularly inconvenient subject.

Adrien put one arm around Marinette's shoulders while he rubbed the back of his neck with the other. Marinette blushed but she wrapped her arm around his waist.

"Yes." They both said in unison.

"Yes! Yes! Yes!" Alya screamed and pounced on her boyfriend. Nino just smiled at hid friends and laughed at Alya's celebratory dance. "What? You knew?" She screamed at her boyfriend. Nino nodded. "You told him before you told me?" She screamed at Marinette.

"Well technically, I was not able to tell you anything at the time." Marinette replied calmly, she prevented her thoughts from going further in that direction not to remind herself why, instead she laughed at Alya's antics.

"And you knew and did not tell me?" She screamed again at her boyfriend.

Nino shrugged. "You were so busy with your blog, you only got your phone back last night or something and there was never really a chance." And she was still grounded. Her mother insisted she went back home instantly after the interview. So Nino said goodbye to their friends and walked away with his girlfriend.

Marinette and Adrien were taken to the bakery by Penny.

Sabine had already prepared the dinner.

"I remember how much you liked the noodles, and I wanted to make something quick for you to eat when you return form that interview." Sabine put the pot on the table. Adrien's bodyguard was arranging the plates.

"Where is papa?" Marinette asked as she turned around.

"Tom went to the bakery, he is baking something down there. He could not wait until the morning to start the ovens." Sabine waved her head.

Adrien was the first one who felt the fine smell of croissants and turned around.

"I had to check if they are ready to work in the morning." Tom exclaimed as he carried a box pastries. "Imagine if we opened the bakery in the morning and all the pastries were half baked."

"We have to test them then." Adrien smiled and reached for one.

The adults went to sleep quickly after they ate. Due to the time difference and the travel, it was really late for them. Marinette went into her room and carried her backpack with the miracle box inside.

They closed the hatch, Marinette went up and opened the window that lead to her small terrace to let some air inside.

"Do you have any Camembert in the house, by any chance?" Plagg finally woke up from his food induced coma.

"If we do, it probably expired, because it was bought before we left." Marinette sighed.

"Excellent. I can find it myself." The tiny black cat exclaimed and phased through the hatch door.

Adrien found a macaron and offered it to Tikki. She took the macaron, but she turned around to her chosen. The girl was busy as she arranged the room.

"Adrien gave it to me Marinette." Tikki chirped quietly. Marinette finally raised her eyes.

"Oh it is the special macaron." She smiled sheepishly.

"How special?" Adrien asked eagerly.

"it was for you." The girl blushed and busied herself with unpacking.

"She used to make this special macaron for you every week." The tiny red goddess of creation started to explain.

"Not a word." Marinette muttered.

"Oh so it is for me." Adrien smiled and looked into a box, there were more cookies.

"Don't worry, these are fine for me, you can have it." Tikki chirped and the two of them ate.

"Hey, Marinette." Adrien called to the girl who was still pretending to be busy. "Do you think we could make that fort here tonight?"

Soon they arranged the sheets to make a tent in the room, but instead of playing a film, they took a few miraculous jewels each and took the kwami out for feeding and floating around. Adrien brought down the bed linen, blankets and pillows while Marinette arranged them with some help from the kwami. They leaned onto the pillows, wrapped themselves in blankets, talked tot he kwami and laughed at their antics. Plagg found the cheese, ate it on the spot to everyone's satisfaction and phased back through the hatch door.

"So we can teleport to that cave if we want to go for a visit." Marinette asked. Kaalki confirmed.

"I feel like I still have more questions than answers." Adrien whispered.

"That is okay." Sass replied calmly. "One never stops to wonder."

"But we are supposed to be finished with the training." Adrien replied.

"Oh no, you are never finished with your training. You are simply deemed capable to continue on your own." Wayzz cut in.

"But we do not have the book." Marinette whispered.

"It used to be in the safe in the office in the Agreste Mansion." Adrien shuddered. Marinette decided not to ask anything further on the subject.

"Why was Plagg able to cataclysm the temple if the cursed stone was inside." The girl asked quietly.

"It is that tremendous amount of fine cheese I could find in the business class food cart." Plagg replied in mock seriousness.

"You glutton." Adrien teased.

"Why doesn't it surprise me you would come up with such explanation?" Tikki was exasperated.

"Yes but you ate that like ten days before that night." Marinette raised her eyebrows.

"And how did you manage such precise destruction on your own? Because the last time you did cataclysm on your own, the Eiffel tower got snapped in half and there were cracks all over the place." Marinette wondered.

"When did that happen?" Adrien raised his eyebrows.

"When Chloe's mum got akumatized and turned you in a statue of golden glitter." Plagg retorted.

"Um yes, you told me Chat Noir lost his miraculous back then." Marinette said thoughtfully.

"What?" Adrien asked incredulously.

"It was Master Fu who came up with that idea, not me, certainly not me." Plagg retorted.

"You said he was one of the least responsible wielders you ever had." Marinette teased.

"You? I? What?" Adrien whisper shouted.

"Plagg, I can't believe you said such a thing!" Tikki scolded her companion in her high pitched voice.

"I can!" Several other kwami replied in unison.

"That is irrelevant. Anyway, the cracks were there, you just did not see them well in the dark." Plagg turned away and raised his nose.

"Okay, but the stone, it did not affect you?" Marinette asked worriedly.

"You found the stone, you recognized it, that was what helped me." Plagg replied.

"So now you know where the cursed stone is?" Mullo floated over to Plagg.

"I know where it used to be." Plagg raised his nose.

"Why is it so important for kwami not to know where it is?" Adrien asked as he laid down.

"Some kwami think the cursed stone is just a story." Sass started.

Marinette covered both Adrien and herself with a blanket as they listened to the story.

"The powers that kwami give you are altered and diminished while you are in the temple." Wayzz spoke as much as he knew.

"There is a good reason for that." Tikki chirped.

"You can imagine some wielders had problems while they were controlling their powers and their kwami." Sass looked towards Plagg for some reason. The tiny god of destruction looked away as if that was not related to him in any way.

"I have a feeling that was not the first time you used your cataclysm on the temple." Marinette squinted her eyes.

"It wasn't me, it was my wielders." Plagg pouted.

"Was it part of the training?" Adrien inquired.

"Hm, not really." Plagg muttered.

"Ladybug brought it back?" Marinette raised her eyebrow and yawned.

"Yes, of course they did." Tikki hovered with her tiny hands on her hips.

"Well then everything turned out okay?" Adrien shrugged.

"And my both of my girls completed the training?" Plagg raised his nose.

"You had two wielders at the same time?" Marinette asked.

"Nah, but those two that transformed and destroyed the temple were girls." Plagg retorted.

"They forbid training of wielders in the temple at first." Wayzz spoke.

"But it was not a good choice." Mullo waved her head. "So the monks found a different solution."

"They used the cursed stone after that and the whole temple was protected by magic." Sass added.

"They resumed training of wielders." Wayzz finished.

"And they trained the guardians too." Adrien reminded himself.

"Especially them, they had to meet all the kwami, not at the same time though, and few of us are a handful." Wayzz added.

"Not me, I am nice." Mullo protested.

"You always want to play hide and seek." Plagg retorted to the mouse kwami.

"But they trained wielders in the temple too, and they needed something to make the kwami stay close to their wielders. So the kwami always knew there was something in the temple that would eat away their powers. But the cursed stone is real, it makes the kwami weaker." Sass spoke.

Then Wayzz took over the story, but by that time both teens were asleep.

They both woke up early, it was still dark outside, but they could smell the bakery was already operational. The smell of pastry filled the air and the two kids who were used to a different time zone were waking up.

"Good morning." Adrien greeted in hoarse voice. They were sleeping on the pillows on the floor underneath some tent-like structure made of bed sheets.

"Mmm" Marinette mumbled back.

"Marinette, your parents are up. You might want to hide the miracle box before you go to school today." Tikki chirped.

Adrien looked around as much as he could in his position.

Plagg snored on one of the pillows, Sass phased in from somewhere, wherever he was snooping around. Mullo was cuddled with Marinette and Wayzz said his greetings from his position on top of the desk just outside the construction of the tent.

"Miracle box." Marinette whisper shouted as she sat up abruptly.

"Yes, it is there, what about it?" Adrien motioned towards the box.

"We have to put the extra miraculous jewels back inside." Marinette whispered. She patted Mullo and took off the pendant necklace. Adrien told his greetings to Wayzz and Sass and took off the bracelets.

They stored the jewels back into the box. Marinette looked at the pin and the brooch stored safely at their positions in the box.

"I am sorry Master Fu did not get to see this." She whispered.

"Yeah, it would have made him happy." He smiled.

"Not as happy as a piece of Camembert would make me." Plagg cut in.

"Well, the only Camembert we might have is the one you left last night." Marinette teased. "But my parents are awake now and you should not go on your own and phase into the fridge." She warned.

"You have a package of Camembert, it was not the best and the most expensive kind." Plagg spoke while Adrien rolled his eyes.

"You can't expect her to have ..." The boy cut in.

"But it was past it's best before date and it spoiled rather nicely." Plagg continued.

"Blah" Tikki released a disgusted sound.

"I can't listen to this, I am going to eat one of the cookies left over from last night. Do not forget about the box Marinette." Tikki floated away.

"Actually I think it rotted to the point where it could not be called Camembert any more, but I am not certain which new name it assumed." Plagg pondered.

Two kids raised their eyebrows.

"You know the cheese in this country does not get spoiled it just changes its name, don't you?" Plagg wiggled his tail while his wide open green eyes were waiting for response.

"Paggembert." Adrien replied with a smirk. "We can call spoiled Camembert Plaggembert."

Marinette rolled her eyes and took the box. She crawled out from the makeshift tent while she carried the box in her hands. She got to the large chest where she used to store the miracle box before she went to China, it was the same chest that stored all her gifts for Adrien. It was locked all the time ever since Chris got akumatized.

"Hey, I thought we are sharing the duty now, I thought I should know where the box is and be able to reach it." Adrien said half teasingly as he crawled after her. He saw when she opened the large box. He saw the contents. His face lit up the same way Chris had when he saw all the presents wrapped up.

Marinette stood with her eyes wide like a rabbit in the middle of the road.

"What is this?" Adrien whispered softly. He knew Marinette made beautiful presents, although he might not have been aware before that some of his presents were from her, he loved them anyway. He was practically bouncing in his spot. "For whom have you made these? Can I have a look? Did you make them yourself? I always admired your work Marinette. Can I just take a peek? I will not spoil anything, I swear." The boy was practically bouncing in his spot from excitement.

"For you, I made them all for you." She replied in a small voice with a huge pink spot over her face. "I used to make gifts for you and wrap them up and store here. I intended to give them to you on different occasions." She whispered.

"For me?" Adrien almost screamed with excitement. "These … are these all for me? Oh. I spoiled the surprise."

"Actually, before we left, I was not even sure if I would ever … " She sniffed and took a deep breath. She remembered the state she was in before she left. She was scared that Adrien would never want to talk to her once he learned about the contents of the large box. Instead, the boy was excited.

"Can I open one now?" Adrien was eager.

"Um, why not." Marinette shrugged.

"I don't have to, I'm sorry I ruined it for you, you did all this work and I behave like some impatient child." Adrien took a step back.

"No no no by all means, pick one and open it." Marinette smiled, she did not want the boy to be sad, he was so happy when she told him these were for him.

"Um, I do not know how to chose. Perhaps … do you have here something I could wear to school today?" The boy was rubbing the back of his neck. "I really do not want to wear anything from my father's brand."

Marinette looked at the contents of the box and picked up one package.

Adrien opened it.

It was a black t-shirt with one wide red line with black spots over his chest.

"I love it." He exclaimed. "Oh, this is so cool. Thank you Marinette." And then he rapped her into his arms and kissed her.

And that was the moment they heard the hatch door opened.

They jumped apart.

"Good morning." Sabine greeted. "You should get up … oh I see you woke up already." She turned around and saw them. "Please get ready and come down for breakfast. The food will wait for you on the table. I will be in the bakery with your father, um, Tom." She smiled at the two kids and retreated back down.

"Um, you can have the bathroom first." Marinette offered as she blushed and turned away. This time she was blushing because her mother almost caught her. It did not matter how much time she spent in Adrien's proximity, they were not in a relationship before, they were a boyfriend and a girlfriend now, but they did not had a clear picture what had changed.

"Oh Tikki, for how long will I be like this?" Marinette asked her kwami when Adrien finally retreated to the bathroom. She was picking out clothes for school and decided for her usual combination.

"You are only a teenager, Marinette. Everything will be okay." Tikki chirped.

"Yes, but I spend two weeks with him we shared … anything we could sleep on and I was mortified that maman might see us kissing." The girl waved her head. "How will I survive today in school." She groaned.

"I say a little Camembert might help you with that." Plagg floated over with his piece of advice.

Marinette rolled her eyes.

"Just go to school and do not worry so much." Tikki chirped.

"Most of all, I dread what kind of lies will I have to face today." Marinette waved her head.

"You should not be bothered by that girl." Plagg muttered.

"But I am." The girl clenched her fists.

"Hey." Adrien greeted her, dressed up in his new t-shirt with plain trousers and a shirt he bought in China. "How do I look?" He turned around.

"School worthy." Marinette nodded and went into the bathroom.

"Huh, this first day of school is going to be interesting." Adrien sighed.

"Are you concerned about Lila too?" Tikki asked worriedly.

"Nah, I doubt she will appear in school." Plagg dismissed the concern.

"That would be nice, we might avoid some interesting conversations." Adrien beamed. "On the other hand, let's have her telling anyone I was ever her boyfriend." He smirked.


	126. Chapter 126 - Learning Assistant

Learning assistant

Lila was livid while she watched the interview her two classmates gave on Tvi. Nobody ever bothered to ask Marinette about her collaboration with Hawk Moth. Nobody asked her about bullying a classmate. Nobody asked her about stealing Adrien. Nobody suspected Adrien knew his father was Hawk Moth. There was only one moment when the two seemed grilled by the questions they got. It was when they were asked if the two of them were in fact Ladybug and Chat Noir.

As if.

Those two could only dream about being superheroes. Lila despised both Ladybug and Marinette. But Ladybug at least had superpowers, Marinette was plain cheerfully boring girl. (or should it be boringly cheerful?)

If Marinette was indeed Ladybug, then Ladybug would never save her, never let her be. Ladybug would have threatened her to leave Marinette alone, Ladybug would have stormed the office of principal Damocles and demanded Marinette returned to the school when she got expelled. Nah, there was no way Marinette was Ladybug, she just wished to be, that was why she wore her hair in those pigtails the whole time.

And the thought of Adrien being Chat Noir made her laugh. Who could ever have such a ridiculous theory? Adrien was famous but withdrawn snail whom she manipulated any way she wanted. Even when he made her invent a lie to bring Marinette back to school, he offered his friendship in return. If he was Chat Noir, he would have appeared on her window, waved his clawed hand and threatened to use his power the next time he stopped around.

Not to mention his father was Hawk Moth. As if Gabriel Agreste and Nathalie would not notice that Adrien was Chat Noir. They would have taken the ring off from the boy long time ago.

And then there was that scene where Chat Noir was practically all over Marinette. It was obvious the girl had a thing for boys with fame. Adrien was jealous. It served him right.

"Go to bed, darling, you have school tomorrow." Benigna Rossi told her daughter.

"But maman, I told you, I can't go back to that school, that girl is bullying me." Lila whined the same story she did the whole weekend.

"That is okay, I will talk to principal Damocles first thing tomorrow morning." Benigna told her daughter.

"No, no, no maman, he is still akumatized, remember all those people Ladybug would not save?" Lila whined the same old lie that prevented her mother to contact the school.

"Well, thanks to your little scheme with the phone and the computer I now know that Hawk Moth and Mayura were defeated and there are no more of those akumas around." Benigna Rossi shrugged. "I know you have not been to school yet because of the holidays, but you might be pleasantly surprised to see that everyone is okay tomorrow." Her mother told her gently with a smile.

"But, but, but, you do not have to go to the school tomorrow. I can talk to principal Damocles then, if he is indeed okay." Lila argued.

"Just go to bed darling." Benigna urged her daughter to get some rest. Her daughter reminded her the way zombies were portrayed in films, bloody red eyes with dark circles around. Wide sneer and sometimes even foam going our from her mouth.

Lila finally relented as she thought she persuaded her mother not to go to school and went to bed. She waited for her mother to go to bed. Then she dug out her old tablet and spent the night trolling various news sites and wrote plenty of nasty comments about Marinette and a few about Adrien too. She never forgot to add a link that lead to her own interview. (She forgot to check the link, a threatening lawsuit made the provider remove the video.)

It was too bad her phone was taken so she had no way of checking the messages from her classmates.

The next morning Benigna woke her daughter up. They had a short breakfast of an espresso shot and something sweet for the mother, while Lila spent the time staring at her piece of croissant. She hated the pastry, it reminded her of Marinette.

To her utter horror, Lila was joined by her mother.

"I already got the morning off in the embassy." Benigna explained to her daughter. It was easy to get a morning off. After the stunt Lila pulled, everyone was understanding that the girl needed to be contained and someone had to do it. "They practically offered me more free time to go to school and arrange proper care for you."

That was worse than a slap in the face. Lila glared at the pavement with her stiff back and clenched fists as she stomped her way to school before she quickly schooled herself into a more appropriate picuture. Beninga observed her daughter carefully. Her poor child was indeed suffering, she needed to do something about that.

Rewind to a few days earlier while Benigna was looking for a new school for her daughter.

Principal Damocles stood in his office ready to change into his Owl suit. He called the magical words, but nothing was happening. Finally he removed the picture that hid his owl hero costume and changed. The man really enjoyed the school holidays, he could be the Owl for whole days, not just a few hours here and there. He was just about to zip up his pants (which was becoming harder and harder to achieve). But then the phone in his office rang.

"Hello, Owl, um, principal Damocles speaking." The man answered the phone.

"Hello, I am a school principal too, one of your students applied to join our school. Ms Lila Rossi. What can you tell us about her? And could you please fay us her school records too?" The woman on the other side of the line asked politely.

Principal Damocles held the trousers of his hero suit with one hand while he reached to a drawer and got the requested school records. He quickly stack them into a scanner and typed in the email address.

"Hello, I am back. The school records are being scanned." The man spoke while he was holding his trousers.

"What can you tell us about the girl, what are your personal impressions?" The woman insisted.

"Ms Lila Rossi, a darling girl, very busy with charities, she knows a lot of famous people, she is struggling with school due her conditions, though." The man cooed over the student.

"What conditions?" The woman on the other end of the line jumped to ask.

"Um, you see, she has this condition that makes her invent things and tell little lies. I almost expelled another student for that." And then principal Damocles told everything about the stolen test results, necklace and her fall down the stairs.

"Thank you, principal Damocles, you have been very helpful." The woman replied.

Principal Damocles inhaled deeply so his chest looked bigger, he felt more like a hero after such praise. The two school principals said their goodbyes and hung up their phones. But the moment the phone was down, it rang again. Principal Damocles dropped his trousers and answered the phone. It was another school, another principal (or someone who called on behalf of the principal anyway). He spent his day sending the school records about Lila Rossi and singing praises about the girl who accomplished so much in spite of her disabilities. (School principals meet regularly, imagine his colleagues at the next meeting).

Ms Bustier enjoyed her holidays. She went to personal building classes. She trained yoga. She spoke about love, happiness and mutual understanding. She felt wholesome. She found her internal peace.

Just a week before the holidays, Marinette had written a proposal to provide Lila a learning assistant. The girl that was the beneficiary of that proposal cried her eyes out how she did not want to be labelled as a burden and how it was really expensive so Principal Damocles dismissed it. The fact was that Lila was the worst student in her class, by far. Marinette was right when she suggested that the girl needed help. Caline thought about that learning assistance, Lila was so good with charities, perhaps she could get an assistant like that? It bothered her, she loved all her students and she wanted to help Lila. The girl obviously desperately needed help, in any shape and form, with all the disabilities, frequent absences and poor grades.

It was great that those awful akuma attacks subsided. She was always concerned about the safety of her students. Poor children succumbed to their negative emotions so often. If she only had more time to teach them all kinds of relaxation techniques.

Then, there were akuma attacks but they were far away, in China, far from any of her students, she believed. She felt sorry for the poor Chinese students who were in that temple.

Then there was that day. They were in the middle of a yoga class. A man burst into their tranquillity.

"They are fighting Hawk Moth and Mayura, civilians are fighting them, it seems superheroes are not there, they might have fallen." The young man shouted as he waved his tablet where the live stream of the battle was unfolding.

Of course everyone stopped the exercise. Of curse they all watched. Ms Bustier felt her eyes wanted to pop out from her head once she recognized the faces of her two students. They suffered immense violence. She could not force herself to watch. She collapsed onto the floor, her fellow yoga trainers were consoling her.

"My students. They are my students." She cried. She was disappointed in herself, how could she not know where her students were? How did she not know they were in such danger? Hawk Moth was Adrien's father? A father of one of her students. She could not remember she ever met him in person. It was always that woman, Nathalie Sancoeur, and she was Mayura. Ms Bustier was devastated, so much pain and suffering. She decided to think about Adrien each day and send him her love to make him feel better. Well, she also sent several supportive messages.

"Well if anyone from my students could be a good example to the world it is them, Marinette and Adrien." She whispered. She always knew the two of them could do more. That was why she pushed Marinette so much. Adrien was already pushed by his father.

It was merely hours later that Mme Leclerc called her for the first time. After that they had a few meetings and phone calls several times per day. She should not talk to the press. But she talked before her yoga class and that information found its way to the tabloids.

Poor Adrien lost his whole family, he was going to live with another family from now on. He wanted to stay in school. He wanted to stay in her class. That made her happy and proud. She felt responsible for his bravery and kindness (and Marinette's too).

Then someone drawn her attention to the interview. She could not remember if it was the gossip group on the tea after the yoga class or Mme Leclerc who called her and asked about Lila.

"I couldn't get principal Damocles on the phone, perhaps you could help me?" Mme Leclerc asked. Perhaps it was a phone call during the usual tea after the yoga class. Caline talked about Lila and mentioned all sorts of accomplishments and conditions, really anything she could remember from her head. Mme Leclerc was really grateful, especially when she mentioned that condition that made Lila invent stories (a teacher was not supposed to give such information to other parents nor legal representatives, but Caline did).

"Thank you so much, Ms Buster. Have you considered getting a learning assistant for Ms Lila Rossi?" The woman on the phone suggested.

"A learning assistant?" Caline repeated absent mindedly. She vaguely remembered Marinette proposed something similar. But it was discussed and dismissed. It seemed like a good idea at the time, Lila was the worst student and she needed help all the time. Yes, that was what she needed.

"Yes, Ms Rossi seems a kind of a student that would really benefit from that. With the disabilities you mentioned getting a learning assistant for the girl should be instantaneous. The school needs to pay nothing, it is provided by the Ministry of Education. I will send you the forms you need to fill out." Mme Leclerc had substantial experience in the subject, unfortunately, some of her clients needed it permanently.

Ms Bustier spend her evening filling out the forms. She was determined to do it and get an assistant for Lila from the first school day. It was not as tranquil and calming experience as she imagined her holidays to be, but her desire to help her student overcame any other emotion. She filled out the forms with all details and more. She downloaded her own records about Lila and logged in into the school database to make sure she listed all kinds of disabilities Lila ever mentioned.

It was Monday morning, Lila arrived to school with her mother three quarters of an hour before the classes began.

"It is too early maman, you will find nobody here. Why don't you use your free morning and do some shopping or have a walk?" Lila was already scheming how to remove principal Damocles from his office and Ms Bustier from the teacher's lounge. She could simply repeat all her accusations about Marinette.

"Shops are not open yet, dear. And I dread walking outside in this mist." Benigna visibly shuddered. Instead, she walked determinedly inside the school.

"Oh I will show you where the principals office is." Lila smiled widely and took off in the opposite direction.

Benigna followed her for a few steps and then stopped.

Lila stood in front of a clearly labelled girl's toilet, the toilet Lila knew she could lock her mother into.

"You can go to the toilet dear, I will wait for you here." Benigna smiled. Lila glared at her mother for a split second before she smiled back. Of course, she realized her error and thought of another room she could lock up her mother into.

"If you do not need to go to the toilet, dear, the sign says principals office is over there." Benigna pointed her finger to the sign.

"Oh no, maman, that sign is old. He just moved into his new office, it is here, on the ground floor, let me take you." The girl said with a sly smile and lead her mother to the door that lead to the janitor's closet. But to her avail, the door was locked, they could not enter.

"Principal Damocles, it is me Lila, I came with my mother." Lila called while she knocked onto the door of the janitor's closet. Her voice echoed around the empty school yard. Perhaps it was odd, but the rugs, buckets and the cleaning chemicals did not answer.

"He is not here." Lila shrugged. "We might as well find a cafe together. We can spend some time together, right maman?" The girl smiled, as long as she pulled her mother out from school she had a chance to mess this up.

"Dear Lila, Mme Rossi, how nice to finally meet you!" Principal Damocles greeted them from the stairs that lead to his office. He heard Lila called his name and went out from the office to find her. Lila glared at the man, her eyes were literally shooting daggers.

Benigna swiftly walked over.

"Be careful, he might be akumatized, maman, please do not come close." Lila begged quietly as she ran after her mother.

"Good morning Mme Rossi, Good morning Lila." Ms Bustier greeted from her back. There was a young woman with brown eyes and brown hair in an elegant dark blue suit on her side.

Lila begrudgingly followed her mother into the principals office. Well, she was going to do her act about Marinette bullying her in front of everyone.

"Principal Damocles, I am here with my mother. Because, you see, well, you know how Marinette has been bullying me and she worked with Hawk Moth and she is coming back to school and I want you to protect me." Lila was persistent in her word vomit so nobody else had a chance to speak. She continued her story and repeated all her claims from the interview and even added to them. The four adults looked at the girl in different states.

Benigna was exasperated, she heard the story so many times over the weekend.

Principal Damocles was smiling gently. He was well aware of Lila's condition and how she sometimes invented stories, he simply enjoyed her performance as one more of her stories.

Ms Buster was grateful she had the learning assistant for Lila already by her side. She remembered the condition Lila used as her excuse when Marinette returned to school. Apparently, her condition worsened, because her statements made no sense. Caline congratulated herself for providing an assistant to a needy student, and she was sure principal Damocles was going to accept her suggestion after this outburst.

"Hello dear, I am Rosa Beneli, I am Italian too, I am doing a PhD in psychology at a university here and I will be your learning assistant. Please stay calm, I can help you with all the other fears and anxieties you have." The woman was gentle and her voice was calming.

Lila protested.

"Do not worry, I will be with you every step of the way. I will sit with you in classroom, I will eat with you in the canteen, I will go to the bathroom with you" Then she laughed. "Don't worry, I will not follow you into the bathroom stall, I will just be in the same bathroom with you. We will learn a lot together. I am looking forward to spending so much time with you."

Lila stood there, silent and numb. What had just happened? She received full time adult surveillance the whole time she was in school.

"If your mother agrees, I can take you to school and get you home and I will definitely go through the homework with you, either in the library or at your home." The woman continued.

"This is excellent news." Principal Damocles exclaimed. He signed all the paperwork he was given and the whole agreement was settled.

Benigna Rossi signed the papers with a smile on her face, she left the meeting entirely satisfied with the school, they obviously cared about their students and they provided a teaching assistant to her daughter. The added bonus that her daughter was to be constantly supervised just made her life much easier. She was thinking about reconsidering that job application, if this worked out she might as well stay in Paris.

Principal Damocles was proud of himself, he provided help for his dear student, he was like a real hero, he did not even need a suit. He smiled a satisfied smile, this was a good first day of school for him. He could not wait to meet the other school principals at their regular meetings and brag about his accomplishments. First he got the mayor's daughter in his school which meant his school was the first in line to get subsidies from the city of Paris for whatever was needed and now this.

Caline chatted with Rosa, they went through Lila's school records and grades. They discussed Lila animatedly. Caline had many stories to tell. Rosa was listening attentively and asked plenty of questions, she frowned from time to time and made notes.

Lila walked around the office nervously, the two women discussed her issues, she cut in regularly and blamed everything on Marinette, then she blamed Adrien and then the others. The two women concluded it was useless to even try to communicate with the girl in that state and continued their conversation while they avoided including the girl who continued her ramble. Both women smiled at Lila gently but their eyes were full of growing concern. Lila was livid. That was not how she imagined her first day of school after the holidays would go. So she rambled on.

Caline and Rosa listened to her attentively, both women were seriously concerned for the girl's well being, they could not tell what was wrong with her, but they knew one thing for certain, and that was that the girl was getting worse.


	127. Chapter 127 - Ridiculous

Ridiculous

Chloe had many reasons to look forward to the school holidays. First of all, ever since their wedding anniversary, her parents were annoyingly close and happy with each other. Her mother was actually nice to her father, they exchanged smiles and gentle words, it was just a matter of time before Audrey and Andre started to invent different cute nicknames for each other. For Chloe, it was just unbearable. Don't get her wrong, she loved her parents, but they had their own way of showing affection, not this … straight of a romantic comedy kind of behaviour. It was ridiculous, utterly ridiculous.

The tall blonde girl invested time and effort to present herself as a proper heiress to the legacy of both her mother and her father. She took the effort since the early age to impersonate her mother in her moves, manners, appearance and style. Her mother always treated everyone as her inferior, Chloe was treated that way her whole life by the mother that she loved, so Chloe treated everyone that way. She was a daughter of a fashion icon and a long term mayor of Paris. Of course everyone was her inferior. Who was to think otherwise? It was ridiculous, utterly ridiculous.

She was a clever girl, of course she was, have you ever expected anything else? But her parents insisted she went to a public school. The reasons were something in the line that the public image of her father as the mayor of Paris would be damaged if he did not send his daughter to a public school. Like, if they sent her to a private school or paid tutors at home, then the trust of the citizens of Paris in the public education system would be lower and he would loose votes or something. Don't take her wrong, she totally understood the reasoning form her early age. But have you seen those kids with whom she had to go to class with? It was ridiculous, utterly ridiculous.

Going to school was just something she had to do. Students were expected to take notes. She was not taking notes. Have you ever saw her father or her mother taking notes? No! Of course not! They had people who took notes for them. So did she. Of course, she got other assignments, there was homework and projects to do. She noticed her parents never stopped working, but it was not as if they were actually sitting down in some office and spent hours working on a task. No. She knew how the world worked. She knew how the things were done. You just dump the task to any of your inferiors. There were people who were supposed to do a task for you. This is why she had them in her lives. Why else would she have them? It was ridiculous, utterly ridiculous.

There was Adrien, he was cute, he was nice to her, and he lived in a mansion, the Agreste mansion. He had an imposing father, even more imposing than her own father, Gabriel Agreste was a designer and a business man, her mother thought highly of him, that meant she tolerated his work and from time to time found several items acceptable. The boy also had a famous and beautiful mother. She was a model and an actress. Her face and her figure adorned the cover pages of selected magazines. They lived a life of secluded luxury. Gabriel never appeared in public in person. Emilie did the modelling and did the shows, she was the face of the company, it was Emilie who spent endless hours on public fashion events with Audrey. Adrien was thrilled to spend time with Chloe. (Of course he was, the poor boy was lonely). So they both wandered in the back stage, they played, well she walked around and commanded, he followed her around like a puppy and obeyed (like a real puppy never would).

Adrien wanted to go to a school just like she did. Of course he wanted to go to school, it was because she was there. What other possible reason could the boy have had to go to school? It was ridiculous, utterly ridiculous.

The first days of school were a nightmare for Chloe. Marinette gave her hard time, as per usual (with pure breathing in the same room let's say) and there was that new girl too (Alya). Then Adrien did not arrive when she expected him to. And then there was that awful akuma, Ivan got himself into. But there was Ladybug, strong and fierce and beautiful. She had power. A girl with real magical powers. Ladybug caught her, Ladybug saved her life, Ladybug faced that low life Hawk Moth and showed him where he belonged. That was when Chloe knew, Ladybug was the best thing that had ever happened to her.

So Chloe never refrained from being a bully. It was not as if she was doing it on purpose. The opportunity would easily present itself. And if an akuma went after her, well then there was Ladybug to save her. That was just fantastic. But Ladybug had that low life for a side kick. Chat Noir had no class, had no style, he was not like Chloe. She would have been a much better choice. Chloe liked to invent stories how Ladybug and her were on good terms because Ladybug had, in fact, saved her life more times than anyone else's, probably.

But, a new girl arrived to the class. She claimed to be a friend with Ladybug. She captured Adrien's attention. She was not such a low life like Marinette to actually follow her and Adrien around, nah, Adrien was hers and Chloe was there to claim him whenever she thought fit, besides, she had Sabrina to do the dirty work for her. But the new girl got akumatized and could create illusions, she disappeared as quickly as she appeared.

Then there was that new fox hero. Alya was singing praises about her. Chloe wanted to bite her head off. But her life changed again, soon, when she stumbled upon the bee miraculous. The power of subordination was so fitting for her. It was made for her to find it, of course. She just had to show it to her mother (and the world) that there was something special about her. Because everything was just too much to bear and stay silent about the miraculous she just got. She got her miraculous back to fight her own akumatized father, and then again on the Hero's Day. The girl finally had something she actually wanted to do in her life.

That Lila girl was back. Chloe knew that her own claims of friendship with Ladybug were not real. But this new girl repeated time and time again of her connection with Ladybug. They were friends. Alya fawned over her. The only person who had issues with that was Marinette. But the pigtailed girl obviously had her hair that way because she was even more desperate to impersonate Ladybug than Chloe in her cosplays. The heiress was observant when she wanted to be, although she took effort not to appear so, and she made the connection. Lila had a power of illusion as an akuma. The new hero had the power of illusion. And Lila was Ladybug's best friend. Chloe would never understand why on earth would have Ladybug picked Lila for her best friend over Chloe. That was simply hard to accept. And she also got that photo where Lila kissed Adrien.

Then Ladybug stopped coming for her. She kept taking other superheroes, not her. Chloe paid attention, she knew how many times Rena Rouge was called, and Queen Bee? Practically zero. She did come for her that day when Sabrina got akumatized into Miraculer. And Chloe did her best, she really did, she almost snatched the brooch off from Mayura. That was the closest that any of the heroes got to stealing a miraculous from a villain.

But Ladybug was not coming back with the comb. She did not even send that side kick of hers.

Then her own parents got akumatized, together, both of them. She wanted to be the one to save them, she wanted the wield the bee miraculous again, she wanted Pollen, she wanted power and she wanted the company of her powerful friends.

But then he appeared and held out a miraculous to her. Of course she wanted it, but not from him. She wanted it badly, but this was not the way. She wanted it so much, but it was clear, Ladybug did not have the bee miraculous to give it to her any more. If she ever wanted to wield the bee miraculous again, she had to take it from Hawk Moth and accept his conditions. She allowed herself to be akumatized while transformed. The rest was history. Ladybug won again and Chloe had to say goodbye to become Queen Bee ever again.

So the heiress was truly looking forward to the school break. Chloe's holidays started early, she left to New York together with her mother, of course she did. It was a relief to see that her mother still treated her employees the same way she always did. She fired a person per day, on average. At least. And there was fashion, haute coutre, high end, expensive fashion. (I do not have a clue about fashion). And her classmates were enjoying family reunions, trips to relatives in the country and few of them even stayed in Paris. It was ridiculous, utterly ridiculous.

Chloe bragged to Adrien and whined how much she missed him in her messages. She would get a polite reply here and there. She expected more, but settled to accept what she got. It was him who was missing out. All locked up in that huge mansion of his father. It was ridiculous, utterly ridiculous.

She missed the live stream of the final battle. It was only to be expected. That was just too early for her to watch. But she heard about it in the morning. Her mother fired her personal assistant for not waking her up to see the history unfold live. Because Hawk Moth was none other that that the famous fashion designer Gabriel Agreste and was beaten by none other than his own son, the famous model, Adrien Agreste. That was an event that a fashion icon like Audrey had to be up to date with.

Then Audrey reinstated the same assistant because she needed someone to find the video of the battle and play it for her and her daughter.

Chloe recognized Adrien, but it was hard to believe that that wild, sunburned and poorly dressed creature was actually her model extraordinaire childhood friend. Then her mother claimed that the girl looked familiar. There she was, her arch nemesis, Marinette Dupain Cheng, dressed equally stupidly with visible injuries and dirt over her face. And that good for nothing girl snatched the brooch off from Mayura with her bare hands and revealed Nathalie as the person behind the second villain. Chloe was devastated. Marinette did with her bare hands what Chloe did not do with her magical suit on.

The heiress saw the video countless number of times. Each time she saw something new. The questions kept piling up. Why she did not know that Adrien was in China? Why was he there with Marinette Dupain Cheng of all people?

She watched the way Adrien moved, she watched the expressions on his face. Each of them was new and something she never saw on her always polite and picture perfect childhood friend.

It was clear the boy was in love with the girl in the video as much as she loved him back.

It was clear to Chloe that the boy had changed as a person, completely, or she never knew him at all. She sent about a hundred questions in different messages that day, she did not get a single answer (because it was night in Tibet).

Her father arranged for them to return home early, but they would still be in Paris at least a day after the battle. Apparently getting a seat on a transcontinental flight from New York to Paris was not always trivial.

She could not help but mourn the loss. Her whole family felt injured and lost. The Agreste were their family friends.

Adrien was a son of a villain now. The properties of his father were seized by the city of Paris until the trial. She knew that from her own father. The outcome of the trial was rather obvious. Adrien was an heir to nothing, save the smudged family name. He was still a model (probably) and even more famous than before because of the fight. But he was not her Adrien any more, this boy that fought his own father was definitely not the Adrien she knew.

Sabrina sent her a message. It was probably one more line about what her father was doing in the investigation. It wasn't, it was a warning and a link to a video. Chloe clicked and scoffed almost instantly. They played a sequence of photos of Adrien with Marinette. Did the boy loose all his modelling abilities? Where was the posture? Where was the attitude? She was looking at a grinning blonde boy, he did not look like anything special, he just looked … happy. But then the inter view started.

Chloe was furious. She might have bought it that Adrien sent her photos if there was not for the warning. But she would have dismissed it instantly once she heard the reason. How dare she claim to be Adrien's girlfriend? And to say that Dupain Cheng worked with Hawk Moth? That she was a bully? Yeah, some unknown gossip addict might believe that and then forget it before they even open the next piece of such 'news'. Nobody who ever met Marinette would believe it. The girl missed a gene needed for that. The girl was incompetent to be a bully. Chloe considered herself superior for being able to do that.

She made sure, personally, that the court order to deliver the hardware related to the police investigation was fulfilled (and she only learned about it from Sabrina). She made sure, personally, through her mother's connections that the video is removed from any decent server. Apparently, someone was already representing Adrien legally and asked for the same thing too. Finally, as she was hanging around her father the whole time, there was a request to the city to ensure a learning assistant for Ms Lila Rossi. She made sure, personally, that her father signed the approval.

It took her days, she demanded from Adrien to take a helicopter and a plane to return sooner and answer her questions. She demanded answers. It took her days and one rather condensed message from Adrien to come to terms that she did not loose him, she never had him in the first place.

The meeting on the airport was short, crowded and awkward. The interview on TV was probably even more disgusting than watching her parents being nice to each other. It was not like she expected anything better in the first place. But she saw it and she decided she was above such trivialities, her life was going on, tomorrow there was school again and she was going to face it like the queen she was.


	128. Chapter 128 - Back To School

Back to School

Tom and Sabine packed the lunch for Adrien and Marinette with an extra box of macarons. Although the kids woke up early because they were used to getting up much earlier, due to the time difference, they took their time to get ready for school and put away the miracle box.

Finally, after breakfast and more than a few conversations, more pastry in the bakery and hugs from all three adults (Tom, Sabine and Adrien's bodyguard), they were leaving the bakery at the last moment to reach the school in time, just like Marinette always did. Old habits die hard.

"I am sure your friends from school will not let you go, you will have to tell them everything." Sabine smiled widely as she added one more paper bag with cookies.

Adrien's bodyguard offered to walk them to school, but the two of them thanked him and went on. The man had his own business to take care of. The two kids only learned that morning that he sent a resignation letter and quit his job the day he saw Gabriel was Hawk Moth. Of course he decidedly stayed by the boy's side, but refused to be on the villain's payroll. Mme Leclerc insisted that the man got paid by the Gabriel company at least until the custody of Adrien was shifted and there were other issues to attend to.

Adrien and Marinette chatted on their way out. Once the door to the bakery shut, Adrien offered her his hand. She smiled and blushed and took his hand. They walked like that in silence, glanced towards their joined hands and then each other and then back, both pink in the face, both with gentle smiles on their faces.

"I like this. I might pick you up in the mornings." Adrien smiled.

"Mhm" Marinette smiled "I'd like that."

Then they continued walking in silence. It was not awkward. It was happy silence. There were no words needed. But the moment they spotted the school building in the morning mist, it reminded them of the classes and homework.

"So, do you remember what was our last literature assignment?" Adrien asked.

"I totally forgot." Marinette shrugged, the last day of school was seventeen days ago? Impossible, must have been last year or something.

"Wasn't it something about ancient Chinese texts and ..." The boy smirked, because he remembered it clearly.

"And different interpretations." Marinette nodded, there was something ringing the bell, faint memories from the time long gone.

"Don't tell me you are going to use those ridiculous interpretations." Plagg retorted.

"You know how to interpret those texts much better now." Tikki chirped.

"Yeah, what if we offered our own interpretation?" Adrien beamed.

"Our own interpretation? I … needed you to read the bag of instant noodles for me." Marinette squeaked in panic.

"You didn't." The boy smirked. "You just wanted me to cook."

"That was as much of a cooking as it was a Chinese lesson. That hardly qualifies me ..." The girl protested.

"No no no, remember those chants that the monks were singing? Those are ancient texts too. So I was thinking ..." Adrien explained his idea.

"Well it is not as if we have a better option, don't we?" She shrugged.

They were already standing at the stairs that led to the school entrance. The large gates were closed. They were surrounded by the morning mist that released light drizzle. It was really unpleasant to be outside. The complete absence of students outside of the school suggested they might have been late for school, so Adrien checked the time.

"We still have some time before the bell." He noted.

"Oh, we are early." She noted.

They both laughed.

"I don't feel like waiting outside in this weather." Adrien smiled.

"This mist is rather unpleasant." Marinette nodded.

"Perhaps we should go inside." The boy said and the two of them climbed up to the large gates.

Adrien raised their joined hands, they pushed the door open together and the two of them passed the gate. The courtyard inside was full of students. They both recognized a few classmates on their first glance. They let go of the door too quickly and the door slammed with a loud clang.

The two of them stood before the door.

Everyone stopped talking.

Those who were not facing the door turned around to see them.

There was a complete silence.

Marinette and Adrien just stood there hand in hand and encouraged each other for whatever was going to be thrown their way. Because literally everyone was there, their class, their teachers, everyone. Adrien smiled. Marinette wiggled the fingers on her free hand as a greeting. Adrien held the box with food so he nodded.

Practically the whole school was there and stared at them.

"Hi everyone." They greeted in unison although they did not even try to do the same thing simultaneously.

After that someone started clapping their hands. Then another person joined. And then one more. Until all the students and few present teachers were applauding.

Adrien and Marinette walked through the inner courtyard followed by the applause. They noticed principal Damocles, Ms Bustier and a woman they did not recognize clapped their hands on the top of the stairs in front of principal Damocles's office.

The two of them walked towards the locker room to pick up their books. They were followed by their fellow students who whistled and clapped after them. Alix stuck two fingers in her mouth and was the loudest. Kim tried to howl louder than her whistle. While they were in the locker room, the other students finally stopped the applause and resumed their normal chatter.

Both teens were soon surrounded by their classmates.

"I cant believe." Ivan waved his head.

"You were so brave." Mylenne smiled.

"You were wonderful." Rose cooed.

"You were fantastic." Juleka muttered.

Alix whistled with each exhale and waved her fist while she inhaled.

"Man" Kim bumped Adrien in the shoulder with his fist.

"There was less than one percent chance for your success." Max recited.

Nathaniel was drawing them.

Marc was scribbling in his notebook beside him.

"My father sends his compliments." Sabrina smiled.

Chloe stood there with her arms crossed and a genuine smile on her face. But she schooled herself in her usual pout when the first person noticed.

Alya was filming the whole scene, she was probably streaming it live to her blog.

Nino just stood beside his best bro and smiled. He adjusted his red heat from time to time and continued to smile.

They went to the classroom all together when the bell rang. When they entered, Ms Bustier was waiting. Lila sat in the last row, with that same woman nobody knew next to her.

"Adrien! Marinette!" Ms Bustier exclaimed and quickly made a few steps towards them and hug them. "Thank you! Thank you so much!" The teacher had her brightest smile on. "Welcome back!" Her eyes beamed at her students.

"Would you mind if you waited here just for a moment?" she asked them next as she pointed to the space in the front of the classroom.

Adrien and Marinette both stood next to the teacher's desk. The teacher cooed, and hugged them and offered her help with anything they needed, she asked about Adrien and how he was doing.

The woman who sat in the last row beamed at both of them with a huge smile on her face. It was obvious she wanted to bounce on her feet and approach them but she schooled herself to stay put in her seat, ever professional

"Welcome everybody. Please take your seats." Ms Bustier called and finally let the two students take their usual seats.

"I will take the attendance and then introduce the guest in our classroom." Ms Bustier started to call names.

Marinette beamed. Was her suggestion for a learning assistant finally accepted? She was not sure. She did not want to get her hopes up. But why have they taken her proposal down only to bring it back?

They went to their seats and arranged their books and notebooks and pencils. It was strange to do something like that after the last two weeks, but there was comfort in familiarity.

The teacher took attendance. It was the same procedure as it has always been, save the applause Adrien and Marinette received when they were called (plus the whistle from Alix for which the pink haired girl received a warning look from the teacher).

"And finally to introduce the most recent addition to our class, thanks to Lila." The teacher explained about the teaching assistant. "She got a teaching assistant to sit with her and help her with schoolwork and homework."

Chloe could not resist but add a story about her own contribution in the matter. She might have been silent about her other contribution, when she literally threatened someone in that embassy, that she kept to herself, and Sabrina, and she might brag about it during recess, later, as well as about her other accomplishments.

Then Ms Benini introduced herself briefly and explained that the two of them would sit in the last row in each class not to disrupt the classes too much.

Adrien and Marinette both had their silent celebration and a fist bump. Alya saved the glare for the said girl for later, she was too busy with her two friends and the first day of school after the holidays. She was ready to shoot daggers at the liar. Nino stoically ignored the very existence of the girl. The rest of the class was somewhere between Alya and Nino.

"Please open your books on the page 144." The teacher instructed.

"Does she honestly believe that any of us will be able to take in any teaching from her?" Alya muttered and raised her hand.

The rest of the class had, albeit reluctantly, remembered to reach for their books and open it to the correct page.

The teacher was busy arranging her papers and did not notice Alya right away.

"So" She began and raised her eyes to the classroom. "Yes Alya?" She noticed the raised hand of the bespectacled girl.

"Ms Bustier, sorry, but any of us could hardly pay attention in the class today, don't you think it would be better if we just talked to our heroes over here?" Alya, ever the journalist, proposed.

Marinette silently groaned, she did not want to be grilled by more questions after last night. And she did not particularly enjoy being the centre of attention. Adrien smiled politely to the teacher and shrugged.

"Well, we are dealing with ancient Chinese history and literature, which was sort of blended in the studied period of time." Ms Buster began her explanation. She was looking forward to this lesson.

But the teacher never got to finish her explanation how this particular lecture was fitting the current mood and the interest of the class.

The door to the classroom burst open.

"Huuu Huuu" There was a voice heard through the door.

Two seconds later, principal Damocles dressed in his Owl costume burst into the classroom.

Marinette facepalmed.

Ms Bustier clutched the papers in her hands and after a few seconds of bewilderment plastered a timid smile on her face.

Adrien and Alya both bothered to raise an eyebrow, one each.

Nino casually leaned back and waited for the show.

The rest of the class was too busy snickering.

Save Chloe, her nails were always so interesting.

There, in the front of the classroom, stood principal Damocles and waved his arms as he flapped his wings that were a part of the costume.

"Your hero, The Owl, is here to pay respect to out civilian heroes." He bowed towards Adrien and Marinette who simply stared at their school principal with an amused smile.

"Thank you principal .. I mean mister Owl." Ms Bustier tried to stop him by simply wishing him away.

"I am here for the heroes, Ms Buster." The man exclaimed.

Adrien turned around to look at Marinette and they both shrugged. They both had no clue what to do with the school principal.

Then Marinette got to her feet and Adrien did the same and they both bowed.

"Thank you principal Owl." Marinette stumbled out. "I mean mister DamOwl I mean .."

"Thank you mister Owl. We leave the safety of this school and the city in your capable hands." Adrien added with a signature Chat Noir lopsided grin.

The first reaction of the class was to laugh, loudly, so they masked it by another applause. That was, fortunately, sufficient for principal Damocles to shoo himself out of the classroom.

Adrien and Marinette both sat down.

"So. Page 144, please." Ms Bustier tried to continue where she was when they got interrupted.

Alya raised her hand again. The teacher nodded.

"What about my question?" She repeated.

"Adrien, Marinette, what do you think about that proposal?" Ms Bustier passed on the responsibility for the decision. Well she did not want to burden the two students and ask them to talk, but she also did not want to prevent them if they wanted to.

Faced with another situation to resolve, Marinette inhaled deeply, clenched her fists for a moment to steel herself and got to her feet. But Adrien was already talking.

"Actually, we heard a few interesting interpretations of ancient texts while we were in the temple. They are rather different from what is offered in this book." The boy spoke calmly.

"What do you mean?" Kim teased, but it sounded serious at a first glance, until Adrien saw his smile. "Instead of this." The huge boy punched his fist forward. "We should be actually doing this." The same boy punched his fist forward and into the air.

"That would be enough, Kim, thank you." Ms Bustier cut in.

The teacher took a deep breath. It was clear that nobody was going to pay much attention in the class today. Max raised his hand and Ms Bustier let him speak.

"Statistically speaking." Max adjusted his glasses. "The writing and the meaning of the signs could have changed over time and in different regions so we can trust any interpretation only with a low amount of certainty."

"Thank you Max." Ms Bustier sighed. "Anyone else?" Several students raised their hands.

"Ms Bustier, Adrien has learned Chinese for years, I am sure he could offer a meaningful interpretation of the original." Alix grinned, she knew from her father and her brother how those interpretations sometimes came to life.

"Well, I am sure Marinette knows just as many stories." Alya cut in.

"They mentioned the teachings of the monks in that temple last night in the interview." Rose piped in.

"Ms Buster, both of them spent their holidays learning about the stuff, we might as well hear them." Chloe bothered to remove her eyes from her nails.

Apparently, the teacher was pushed into the corner (figuratively).

"Well, if you don't mind, please tell us those alternative interpretations." The teacher resigned. "But the rest of the class will have to take notes and compare to the section in the book. And no talking and no questions out of topic."

Adrien did most of the talking although Marinette had more than a few inputs. But each time they got even close to magic and miraculous, she would glare at him and he would simply skip to the next subject.

And that was exactly the way that Ms Bustier managed to get some history taught that morning.

They had the science class next. And all the students greeted in very friendly tone and smiled widely to Rosa. Rose even brought her a small rose flower that she made of paper because they in fact had the same name.

The whole class got to witness another historic moment because they all saw Mme Mendeleev smile. She smiled and hugged both Adrien and Marinette together in a hug while she praised them and thanked them. That did not last for long though. Because the moment she let them go and they turned away her face assumed her usual stern expression.

"Well, thanks to your brave colleagues, we can look forward to a whole double period of science classes and experiments uninterrupted by the akuma attacks." Mme Mendeleev stood proudly before the class who mostly silently groaned.

The science teacher knew how to keep the students busy, too busy to try to initiate another story telling exercise. The taught, she explained, she repeated and then she instructed, and of course she expected them to complete the experiments, make the notes and do the computations during the whole two school periods. She also noticed that Marinette's bladder functions worked properly today as she did not ask to be excused to the bathroom once. The teacher was also glad that now she could make her students perform any experiment from the science curriculum, not only those that can be abandoned easily in a case of an akuma attack. And finally, she noticed how several of her students had much better attention span, because Adrien and Alya were not constantly checking their phones as they waited for the next akuma attack.

Then the lunch bell rang.

Lila was swiftly taken away by her learning assistant.

Chloe greeted the ordinaries and strode away towards her white limousine.

The rest of the class surrounded their two classmates.

"How did you know?" "When did you find out?" The questions were popping from all sides. The two civilian heroes mostly repeated the same story. Then they spoke about Ling and Ye, about Pema and Dorje and other people they met on their way.

The lunch break passed in story telling. Marinette told how they walked to the temple and Adrien spoke about the train ride and the flight, but they both conditioned them, for any story of question, their classmates had to provide a story of their own before the two were telling any further story. They asked each of their classmates to tell about something they did during the holidays in return. And everyone was telling exactly where they were and what they were doing in the moment they learned about the final battle and watched it.

By the time the afternoon lessons have started, it was almost a normal school day.

Note: This is the end for now. I plan to continue with the search for the book and issues with Felix.

Thank you all who survived reading this monster up to this point.


End file.
